The Man Who Was Thursday
"Do you see this lantern?" cried Syme in a terrible voice. "Do you see the cross carved on it, and the flame inside? You did not make it. You did not light it. Better men than you, men who could believe and obey, twisted the entrails of iron and preserved the legend of fire. There is not a street you walk on, there is not a thread you wear, that was not made as this lantern was, by denying your philosophy of dirt and rats. You can make nothing. You can only destroy. You will destroy mankind; you will destroy the world. Let that suffice you. Yet this one old Christian lantern you shall not destroy. It shall go where your empire of apes will never have the wit to find it."
G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday
Labels: Quotables
posted by Joel @ 7:49 PM
2 Comments:
who is being spoken to?
I don't remember exactly, you'd have to read the book (which I highly recommend, especially for philosphers like myself). Syme is the main character. Truthfully, it's difficult to talk about the book and its characters at all without spoiling the story. All that is to say that the message of the quote is clear from the context within the book.
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