True emptiness

What are all the pleasures of time and sense, all the objects of this visible world--but as the dropping of pebbles into a deep chasm, which, instead of filling it up, only tell them how deep it is--by awakening the dismal echoes of emptiness and desolation.

-John Angell James

The Proverbial fool

Without clarity, being concise isn’t easy.
-Michael Gembola

How true.  This is why the person without understanding talks a lot, but doesn't make any sense.

political generosity

It's easier to be generous with other people's money. Cheaper, too!

Gospel and Clarity

One part of clarity sometimes missed by earnest evangelists, however, is the willingness to offend. Clarity with the claims of Christ certainly will include the translation of the Gospel into words that our hearer understands, but it doesn’t necessarily mean translating it into words that our hearer will like. Too often advocates of relevant evangelism verge over into being advocates of irrelevant non-evangelism. A gospel which in no way offends the sinner has not been understood.
- Mark Dever

On saying difficult things

It is not saying hard things that pierces the consciences of our people; it is the voice of divine love heard amid the thunder. The sharpest point of the two-edged sword is not death, but life...

-Andrew Bonar, The Biography of Robert Murray McCheyne

For more thoughts on this topic check out this article by Tim Keller.

Satisfaction

"Who do you think has the deepest most satisfying joy in life, the man who pays $100 for a fortieth floor suite downtown and spends his evening in the half-lit, smoke filled lounge impressing strange women with ten dollar cocktails, or the man who chooses the Motel 6 by a vacant lot of sunflowers and spends his evening watching the sunset and writing a love letter to his wife?"
John Piper, from the sermon "Money: Currency for Christian Hedonism"