Quotes About Cathedrals

If we dream of faith leading to the accumulation of profit—as so many Christian preachers are quick to say on television, in great cathedrals, and in overflowing stadiums—we betray our deep-seated desire for a treasure that exists over and above faith. Yet, compared with faith itself, all else is but straw.

Ces châteaux et ces cathédrales n'ont pu être bâtis par des chétifs ni par des tristes. Il y a à la fois une raison et une audace de la raison dans le plan des cathédrales qui ne peuvent être comprises seulement comme l'effet d'une ardente foi extra-terrestre, mais comme confiance dans la vie, joie de vivre, affirmation exubérante de l'immédiat.

It really does look like musical sheets, frayed at the edges, constantly played, coming to you in tidal scores, in bars of canals with innumerable obbligati of bridges, mullioned windows, or curved crownings of Coducci cathedrals, not to mention the violin necks of gondolas. In fact, the whole city, especially at night, resembles a gigantic orchestra, with dimly lit music stands of palazzi, with a restless chorus of waves, with the falsetto of a star in the winter sky.

the most evident distinguishing sign is man's organization of his life according primarily to mythic, and only secondarily economic, aims and laws. Food and drink, reproduction and nest-building, it is true, play formidable roles in the lives no less of men than of chimpanzees. But what of the economics of the Pyramids, the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, Hindus starving to death with edible cattle strolling all around them, or the history of Israel, from the time of Saul to right now?

in those small towns you come to realize how the cathedrals utterly outgrew their whole environment.

Yet it should not be forgotten that construction of churches and cathedrals helped create and deepen markets for many artisanal and engineering skills. In the same way that military spending of the nation-state during the Cold War unintentionally helped incubate the Internet, so the building of medieval cathedrals led to spin-offs of other kinds, the incubation of commerce. The Church was a principal customer of the building trades and artisans.

There are a whole lot of things whose names I do not know and I'd like to tell you about them in the sky your hair solemnly draws away kinds of rain one no longer sees nuts Saint Elmo's fire sun lames whispered nights cathedrals too which are the carcasses of large gnawed horses spat by the sea from far away but still worshiped by people a whole lot of forgotten things a whole lot of dreamed things

These old ballparks are like cathedrals in America. We don't have big old Gothic cathedrals like they do in Europe. But we got baseball parks.

I love church buildings, particularly cathedrals, and I like living in spaces that remind me of music or evoke that creative energy.

Western music in the Middle Ages was performed in these stone-walled gothic cathedrals, and in architecturally similar monasteries and cloisters.

The old cathedrals are good, but the great blue dome that hangs over everything is better.

All the great works of art, the cathedrals - the Gothic cathedrals and the splendid Baroque churches - are a luminous sign of God, and thus are truly a manifestation, an epiphany of God.

Inside a religious body you get sects and hierarchies, inside an information network you get bazaars and cathedrals, it is the same, call them what you like. They survive by pointing the finger of blame at each other.

Su mente era como una casa que había ido amueblando durante toda su vida. Las mesas y las camas eran las canciones que sabía cantar, las obras que había visto, las catedrales que había admirado y los libros que había leído en inglés, francés y latín.

Io credo che un romanzo sia riuscito quando tocca le emozioni del lettore. Lo stesso può valere per tutte le creazioni artistiche. Di sicuro è così per le cattedrali. Quando le vediamo stagliarsi contro il cielo restiamo sbalorditi, quando le visitiamo restiamo affascinati dalla loro grazia. Quando ci sediamo in silenzio proviamo un gran senso di pace. E quando una cattedrale brucia, piangiamo.

Un giorno un giornalista mi chiese : <>. No. Le cattedrali sono sempre state affollate da turisti. Nel Medioevo non si chiamavano turisti, erano pellegrini, ma viaggiavano per gli stessi motivi: per vedere il mondo e le sue meraviglie, per ampliare i propri orizzonti, per istruirsi e forse per entrare in contatto con qualcosa di miracoloso, soprannaturale, eterno.

In frantically trying to help God run His business by establishing visible and impressive cathedrals and headquarters on earth, we might have actually unwittingly hindered Him, because these structures may have shouted glory to humanity so loudly that we've drowned out the glory of the Lamb in the process.

taken aback by the bookshops in all the cathedrals; visions of Jesus chasing the money changers out of the temple sprang to mind.

I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.

I went and looked at one of these great cathedrals one day, and I was blown away by it. From there I became interested in how cathedrals were built, and from there I became interested in the society that built the medieval cathedral. It occurred to me at some point that the story of the building of a cathedral could be a great popular novel.

Spirituality without boundaries. All voices heard. Reverence for the natural world. We don't need to attend lavish services paid for with prayer fees and massive tithes . . . while beggars and others starve outside the cathedrals. It's not fair for one group to have so much wealth and another so little.

Cathedrals became houses of light, not of God, monuments to man's architectural inspiration, where humanity worshiped its own ingenuity and not God's presence.

Shopping Malls: Modern cathedrals to spending money. Theyre designed to disorientate us and make us stay longer than we need to. Every brick is there to manipulate us to buy.

I never weary of great churches. It is my favorite kind of mountain scenery. Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.