There was a chap at Oxford who came up in the 80s to research the 4 year tenure of a Yorkshire bishop. He spent 40 years on it, draining an inheritance left on condition it was spent on his education. Daily Mass (sometimes several times a day), lobster every day at Brown's next to the Oratory (hence the gout), magnificent dinner parties for miscreants, oddballs and grad students, and generous to charity. His fingers were so fat that his signet rings appeared stuck to them. Having spent every last penny, he was evicted from his apartment and became a monk some 3 years ago. No wife, no kids, and I don't think the DPhil ever got finished. Top 5 most eccentric human beings I’ve met in my life. Bless him.

Charles Fort speaks of this:

"the idea that we might be taken advantage of is an acceptable risk for the benefits that we get from helping each other." @MichaelMaiello middlebrowmusings.substack.c…

Pascal would not be surprised by the nihilism, vengefulness, and love of destruction on display in Paris this week. His apologetic reveals the restless self-love in every ideological project and vindicates the Christian promise of uniting justice and force.

Anyone who suggests breaking up New York is fully delusional btw

"Men think they prove their greatness by simplifying the means. God's object is simple but His means infinitely various." Alexis de Tocqueville

It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world—oh, woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth and turned to happiness! At this time of the rolling year I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!