- No one reads Kierkegaard and says: Christianity was doing great in the 19th century, you idiot Soren! No, it was definitely dying (even if Denmark’s ministers insisted that the traditional mode of faith was doing just fine) .
- Writers are like those stations, whatever they’re called, that register earthquakes in Japan, in an attempt to give warning before a tsunami hits — except we deal with waves that take years or decades, not minutes, to arrive.
- If you follow your impressions to their roots, if you root out the truth ruthlessly, you have no choice but to despair.
- Don’t expose others to risks that you wouldn’t expose yourself to.
- The virtuous take risks for virtue.
