Wednesday, May 7, 2014

There is such a thing as taking ourselves and the world too seriously, or at any rate too anxiously. Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain idea that every man is bound to be a critic of life, and to let no day pass without finding some fault with the general order of things, or projecting some plan for its improvement. And the other half comes from the greedy notion that a man’s life does consist, after all, in the abundance of the things that he possesses, and that it is, somehow or other, more respectable and pious to be always at work making a larger living, than it is to lie on your back in the green pastures and beside the still waters, and thank God that you are alive.

... Henry van Dyke (1852-1933), Little Rivers: a book of essays in profitable idleness, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908, p. 35 (see the book; see also Luke 12:15; Ps. 17:13-15; 37:16; Pr. 15:16; Eccl. 5:10; Matt. 6:25-26; Luke 8:14; 1 Tim. 6:6-8; Heb. 13:5; more at Attitudes, God, Greed, Man, Possession, Sadness, Social, Thanksgiving, Vanity, World)

 
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        Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
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Last updated: 04/14/16

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