Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love?
Fulton J. SheenRead
The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Indecision on moral issues equates to supporting evil, reflecting a crisis of conviction in honesty versus dishonesty.
Fulton J. Sheen's quote highlights the moral obligation individuals have to take a stand on significant issues. It suggests that failing to do so is, in itself, a choice that tacitly supports evil. The quote further contrasts the passionate beliefs of those who embrace dishonesty with the often lukewarm commitment of those who value honesty, illustrating a troubling imbalance in conviction in contemporary society.
Themes
MoralityConvictionHonestyEvilIndecision
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a debate about the importance of taking stands on social justice issues.
More from Fulton J. Sheen
All quotes →A woman gets angry when a man denies his faults, because she knew them all along. His lying mocks her affection; it is the deceit that angers her more than the faults.
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Many married women who have deliberately spurned the "hour" of childbearing are unhappy and frustrated. They never discovered the joys of marriage because they refused to surrender to the obligation of their state. In saving themselves, they lost themselves!
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No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane - it tells of something beyond....a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity.
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The big print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.
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Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.
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