Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man - and the dogma is the drama.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Christian faith presents a compelling and imaginative narrative that captivates human thought, with its teachings forming the core of this narrative.
Dorothy L. Sayers suggests that the Christian faith is not just a set of beliefs or doctrines; instead, it is a grand and thrilling story that captures the human imagination. The 'drama' emphasizes the dramatic nature of the Christian narrative, and the 'dogma' refers to the essential truths that structure this narrative. In essence, she sees faith as a profoundly engaging and creative journey that influences how individuals understand life's biggest questions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a sermon to highlight the importance of faith in Christianity.
More from Dorothy L. Sayers
All quotes βBut suppose one doesn't quite know which one wants to put first. Suppose," said Harriet, falling back on words which were not her own, "suppose one is cursed with both a heart and a brain?" "You can usually tell," said Miss de Vine, "by seeing what kind of mistakes you make. I'm quite sure that one never makes fundamental mistakes about the thing one really wants to do. Fundamental mistakes arise out of lack of genuine interest. In my opinion, that is.
. . . the fellow's got a bee in his bonnet. Thinks God's a secretion of the liver--all right once in a way, but there's no need to keep on about it. There's nothing you can't prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.
You're thinking that people don't keep up old jealousies for twenty years or so. Perhaps not. Not just primitive, brute jealousy. That means a word and a blow. But the thing that rankles is hurt vanity. That sticks. Humiliation. And we've all got a sore spot we don't like to have touched.
None of us feels the true love of God till we realize how wicked we are. But you can't teach people that - they have to learn by experience.
What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.
Similar quotes
To establish oneself in the world, one does all one can to seem established there already.
What tender and devoted mother wouldn't be dismayed and ill with terror at her son's or daughter's stepping even one hair's breath off the beaten track. No, better let him be happy and live in comfort without originality, is what every mother thinks when she rocks the cradle. The only person among us who can fail to reach the general's rank is the original man - in other words, the man who won't be quiet.
What is the Absolute? Something that appears to us in fleeting experiences--say, through the gentle smile of a beautiful woman, or even through the warm caring smile of a person who may otherwise seem ugly and rude. In such miraculous but extremely fragile moments, another dimension transpires through our reality. As such, the Absolute is easily corroded;it slips all too easily through our fingers and must be handled as carefully as a butterfly
It is a poor reverie which invites a nap. One must even wonder whether, in this "failing asleep", the subconscious itself does not undergo a decline in being.
A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.