Category Archives: reading

Making Friends

Posted on October 6, 2018 by Matthew Phillips

“Next, at fixed hours time should be given to certain definite reading.  For haphazard reading, constantly varied and as if lighted upon by chance does not edify makes the mind unstable; taken into the memory lightly, it goes out from … Continue reading →

Posted in Cistercian, education, reading, William of St Thierry | Leave a comment

Ruling the World Through Reading Books

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Matthew Phillips

“The world is indeed a sick thing; it is the kind of fur on which neither hide no hair is any good.  The healthy heroes are rare, and God provides them at a dear price.  Still the world must be … Continue reading →

Posted in government, Martin Luther, reading | Leave a comment

Reading the Best Authors

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Matthew Phillips

“This then will be our first study: to read only the best and most approved authors.  Our second will be to bring to this reading a keen critical sense.  The reader must study the reasons why the words are placed … Continue reading →

Posted in languages, Leonardo Bruni, liberal arts, reading, Renaissance | Leave a comment

Reading Needs Memory

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Matthew Phillips

“Reading needs the aid of memory, and even if memory is sluggish, it is sharpened by frequent meditation, and recovered by assiduous reading.  Often a prolix reading will overwhelm the memory with its length, but if it is short, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Isidore of Seville, Learning, liberal arts, reading, teaching, wisdom | Leave a comment

The Drunken Effects of Reading

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“Reading sharpens perception, adds new dimensions of understanding, kindles an ardent desire to learn, affords fluency, warms the lukewarm enthusiasm of the mind, casts out sluggishness, tears away the web of lust, excites groans of the heart, coaxes forth tears, … Continue reading →

Posted in Alan of Lille, Learning, reading, reason, wisdom | Leave a comment

Martin Luther on Studying Theology and Reading Scripture

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“Moreover, I want to point out to you a correct way of studying theology, for I have had practice in that.  If you keep to it, you will become so learned that you yourself could (if it were necessary) write … Continue reading →

Posted in Martin Luther, reading, teaching, theology, writing | Leave a comment

Peter of Celle on Monastic Reading

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“What should I say about reading? I consider a room without reading to be hell without consolation, a gibbet without belief, a prison without a light, a tomb without a vent, a ditch swarming with worms, a suffocating trap.  A … Continue reading →

Posted in Peter of Celle, reading | 1 Comment

Hugh’s Hermeneutics

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“First of all, it ought to be known that Sacred Scripture has three ways of conveying meaning–namely, history, allegory, and tropology….It is necessary, therefore, so to handle the Sacred Scripture that we do not try to find history everywhere, nor allegory … Continue reading →

Posted in Hugh of St Victor, medieval, reading | 1 Comment

Persevere in the study of literature

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“To desert our studies shows want of self-confidence rather than wisdom, for letters do not hinder but aid the properly constituted mind which possesses them; they facilitate our life, they do not retard it.  Just as many kinds of food … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Petrarch, reading, Renaissance | Leave a comment

Reading for understanding

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“A student who doesn’t want his work to go for nothing ought to read and reread some good author until the author becomes part, as if were, of his flesh and blood.  Scattered reading confuses more than it teaches.  Many … Continue reading →

Posted in education, Martin Luther, reading | Leave a comment