Inspirational Quotes by Peter Kreeft
“John’s privilege among prophets is somewhat analogous to Mary’s privilege among women. No prophet is closer to Christ than John. Christ did not call him the greatest of all the prophets and more than a prophet (Mt 11:9) because he was more complete in his eloquence, his wisdom, or even his sanctity, than any other prophet, but because he completed the whole era of prophets, the Old Law, or Old Covenant, in introducing Christ to the world. As Mary’s womb gave Christ to the world ontologically, John’s baptism gave Christ to the world epistemologically.”
“Hence man never desires infinite meat, or infinite drink. . . . But non-natural concupiscence is altogether infinite . . . Hence he that desires riches, may desire to be rich not up to a certain limit but to be simply as rich as possible (I-II,30,4).”
“Because CPR resuscitates thousands today, it is now a commonly known “NDE” or near—death experience, that at the moment of death your whole life passes before you in an instant, with perfect clarity; and in this “life review” everything is seen truly, nothing is covered up. God is apparently sharing a foretaste of His own vision of our life with us, as He will do completely in Purgatory and / or Heaven; and repented and forgiven sins are part of this bitter yet sweet vision. St. Thomas had no CPR, and therefore few NDEs as his data, as we do, but he knew this anyway, if not inductively from data, then deductively from philosophy.”
“The transformation of Christ’s bodily scars into badges of glory shows us what happens, even in this life, to our souls when we lovingly and trustingly offer our sufferings to Christ and unite them to His. He turns “deformity” into “dignity”.”
“It’s just as dangerous and just as heretical to under—do as to over—do what Scripture says.”
“Greed for the things money can buy (“natural wealth”) is a bad thing, but it is finite. You can only enjoy a finite amount of food or drink, houses or cars, or even sex. But greed for money (“artificial wealth”) is infinite. You can always want more. It’s like a drug: you have to have higher and higher doses of it to give you the same “buzz” you used to get from little bits of it. And this never stops. It is Hell’s false infinite.”
“the nature of a voluntary act, whose principle needs to be in itself;”
“manifests a good person, a good character, a good habit, and also because good deeds gradually form good habits, good character, good persons.”
“Each truth about God known by the mind is a new motive for loving Him with the will.”
“A habit is a stable disposition to act in a certain way, good or evil. Virtues are good habits; vices are bad habits.”
“Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapor, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows nothing of this. Thus all our dignity consists in thought. It is on thought that we must depend for our recovery, not on space and time, which we could never fill. Let us then strive to think well; that is the basic principle of morality.”
“It also works the other way around: the more you love any person (human or divine), the more you want to know him (or Him) better, and the more you do. And this always causes deep joy.”
“when a subject corrects his prelate, he ought to do so in a becoming manner, not with impudence and harshness but with gentleness and respect. . . .”
“The purpose of Purgatory is to completely internalize, in your own individual soul, what Christ has completely accomplished in objective reality in His Passion. Nothing”
“The flood of love will fill all the containers to the fullest, but some containers will be larger than others.”
“Christians are good citizens, and take human laws very seriously, for religious reasons, not just for secular reasons. That’s why they are better citizens than atheists, and certainly better citizens than moral relativists and subjectivists: they have stronger motives for obedience.”
“Only when there is virtue in souls can there be peace and happiness in society.”
“If anyone doubts its infallible conclusion, he infallibly shows that he has never really performed the experiment.”
“The root of pride is found to consist in man not being in some way subject to God and His rule.”
“I will not serve”—”
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Peter John Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King's College, and author of numerous books as well as a popular writer on Christian theology, and specifically Roman Catholic apologetics. He also formulated together with Ronald K. Tacelli, SJ, "Twenty Arguments for the Existence of God".
Kreeft took his A.B. at Calvin College (1959), and an M.A. at Fordham University (1961). In the same university he completed his doctoral studies in 1965. He briefly did post graduate studies at Yale University. He joined the Philosophy faculty of the Department of Philosophy of Boston College in 1965. In 1994 he was a signer of the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together.