Not much longer shall we have time for reading lessons of the past. An inexorable present calls us to the defense of a great future.
Henry R. LuceRead
The world of the 20th century, if it is to come to life in any viability of health and vigor, must be to a significant degree an American century.
Interpretation
The 20th century's vitality relies heavily on American influence and culture.
Henry R. Luce suggests that for the 20th century to thrive and be meaningful, it must largely reflect American ideals, values, and contributions. This quote implies that the United States has a central role in shaping the future and vitality of global society during this era, highlighting the extent of its cultural, political, and economic impact.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of American contributions to global culture.
Not much longer shall we have time for reading lessons of the past. An inexorable present calls us to the defense of a great future.
I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world.
There are men who can write poetry, and there are men who can read balance sheets. The men who can read balance sheets cannot write.
Show me a man who claims he is objective and I'll show you a man with illusions.
Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.
I have often seen people uncivil by too much civility, and tiresome in their courtesy.
The one thing that we yearn for in our living days, that makes us sigh and groan and undergo sweet nauseas of all kinds, is the remembrance of some lost bliss that was probably experienced in the womb and can only be reproduced (though we hate to admit it) in death. But who wants to die?
Belief, as I use the word here, is the insistence that the truth is what one would "lief" or wish it to be. The believer will open his mind to the truth on condition that it fits in with his preconceived ideas and wishes. Faith, on the other hand, is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a plunge into the unknown. Belief clings, but faith lets go.
If you say, Well, OK, I don't believe in God. There's no evidence of God, then you're missing the stars in the sky and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together. Everything is sort of built in a way that to me suggests intelligent design.
I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.
It's been a prevalent notion. Fallen sparks. Fragments of vessels broken at the Creation. And someday, somehow, before the end, a gathering back to home. A messenger from the Kingdom, arriving at the last moment. But I tell you there is no such message, no such home -- only the millions of last moments . . . nothing more. Our history is an aggregate of last moments.
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