James V. Schall Quotes

#1. There is an intimate connection between our moral life and our intellectual life. Sometimes I think the history of our times can be described as an argument about whether or not this connection is true.

James V. Schall

#2. No serious book lover will ever die having read every book he has managed to collect. This is not a sign of dilatoriness but of eagerness, anticipation.

James V. Schall

#3. The cruelest form of death, I have no doubt, is not physical death. Rather it is that public death which comes from the killing of ideas about God.

James V. Schall

#4. In a sense, we can tell a lot about anyone by looking at what books, if any, he reads, at what books are on his shelves ... I have always found books to be helpful, yet they must be good books.

James V. Schall

#5. No one will seek the highest [things] if he believes that there is no truth, that nothing is his fault, and that government will guarantee his wants.

James V. Schall

#6. Self-discipline is the beginning of wisdom, not its end. When we have discovered the purpose for which self-discipline exists, we will, if we are sane, hardly recall anything about self-discipline because it has enabled us to become free to see and do so much else.

James V. Schall

#7. Why read? Because we are given more than we are.

James V. Schall

#8. Thinking is itself, however, an adventure.

James V. Schall