In honour of Valentine’s Day (a holiday that I associate with the death of my beloved grandfather) I offer this Voltairian insight for Valentine's Day:
It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.
To which I must reply that it is a supreme conceit of the modern mind to believe that wisdom must necessarily spring from intimate knowledge of concupiscence.
(Good Lord, did I just try to out Voltaire Voltaire? I can barely recall the virtuous state of virginity, myself. Though the memory is tenuous, I don't recall liking the condition much.)
On a more edifying note, Saint Valentine died because he believed so much in the sacrament of marriage that he would not stop marrying folks even when the Emperor commanded.
It is not virginity to which we are called, but chastity, whether single or married. Thus endeth the catechism lesson. Feet don't fail me now .......
Happy Saint Valentine's Day, Kate.
Of course, that is always easier written than done ......
John, being the serial widow that I am, I had to post it. When I am being flippant I usually speculate that it was the sex that caused my husbands hearts to fail pre-maturely but Voltaire isn't shagging chastity - just virginity as a virtue.
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To which I must reply that it is a supreme conceit of the modern mind to believe that wisdom must necessarily spring from intimate knowledge of concupiscence.
(Good Lord, did I just try to out Voltaire Voltaire? I can barely recall the virtuous state of virginity, myself. Though the memory is tenuous, I don't recall liking the condition much.)
On a more edifying note, Saint Valentine died because he believed so much in the sacrament of marriage that he would not stop marrying folks even when the Emperor commanded.
It is not virginity to which we are called, but chastity, whether single or married. Thus endeth the catechism lesson. Feet don't fail me now .......
Happy Saint Valentine's Day, Kate.
Of course, that is always easier written than done ......
John, being the serial widow that I am, I had to post it. When I am being flippant I usually speculate that it was the sex that caused my husbands hearts to fail pre-maturely but Voltaire isn't shagging chastity - just virginity as a virtue.
So it wasn't me! The girls in my high school thought I was smart enough already!
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