Hildebrand Quotes & Sayings

Purity perceives and respects the character of sex-its depth, seriousness, intimacy, and true home within wedded love, which alone makes possible the total and mutual gift of self. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

The men who have had the most to give to their fellow men are those who have enriched their minds and hearts in solitude. It is a poor education that does not fit a man to be alone with himself. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

Just as our parents' souls revolted against God, their bodies revolted against their souls, to which they had been subject. And they realized 'that they were naked. — Alice Von Hildebrand

In his eloquent defenses of the traditional Mass, Dietrich von Hildebrand speaks often of the need for an attitude of reverence prior to all acts of worship; he appeals to the influence of silence on the human soul, which, after the Fall, tends to be in a state of noisy flux. The liturgy exemplifies the truth that in love, silence speaks louder than words. The — Peter Kwasniewski

Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD" (Psalm 27:14). God promises to strengthen your heart as you learn to wait upon Him through prayer, meditation, and worship. "O — Lloyd Hildebrand

An old fool is the worst of all fools. — Alice Von Hildebrand

Instead of adjusting students to docile membership in whatever group they happen to be placed, we should equip them to cope with their environment, not be adjusted to it, to be willing to stand alone, if necessary, for what is right and true. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

[I shall not] discuss scientific method, but rather the methods of scientists. We proceed by common sense and ingenuity. There are no rules, only the principles of integrity and objectivity, with a complete rejection of all authority except that of fact. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

Love is not concerned with a person's accomplishments, it is a response to a person's being: This is why a typical word of love is to say: I love you, because you are as you are. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

Sex is essentially deep. We become what we do with our bodies, and there is no deeper act than sex. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

That there is no such thing as the scientific method, one might easily discover by asking several scientists to define it. One would find, I am sure, that no two of them would exactly agree. Indeed, no two scientists work and think in just the same ways. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

Beauty kindles love, and only the one who remains captivated by it, only the one who is intoxicated by it, only the one who remains a lover while he is investigating its essence, can hope to penetrate its essence. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

Hildebrand, too, challenged the ideals of scientific naturalism by an appeal to the psychology of perception: if we attempt to analyze our mental images to discover their primary constituents, we will find them composed of sense data derived from vision and from memories of touch and movement. A sphere, for instance, appears to the eye as a flat disk; it is touch which informs us of the properties of space and form. Any attempt on the part of the artist to eliminate this knowledge is futile, for without it he would not perceive the world at all. His task is, on the contrary, to compensate for the absence of movement in his work by clarifying his image and thus conveying not only visual sensations but also those memories of touch which enable us to reconstitute the three-dimensional form in our minds. — E.H. Gombrich

There are very few real teachers. Teaching is not a job; it is a vocation. To be a great one many qualities must be combined: love of truth, knowledge, reverence, loving concern for one's students, clarity and patience. — Alice Von Hildebrand

The soldier of Christ is obligated to fight against sin and error. His battle against the Antichrist is prompted by his loved for Christ, and for the salvation of souls. He fights this battle for the salvation of those who have gone astray. His attitude is one of true love. But those who flee from the inevitable battle, and treat irenically those who have gone astray, obfuscating their error and playing down their revolt against God, are, fundamentally, victims of egoism and complacency. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

Unwittingly, the feminists acknowledge the superiority of the male sex by wishing to become like men. — Alice Von Hildebrand

The great mystery of our metaphysical situation, that God is nearer to us than we are ourselves, is manifest in the fact that we cannot even be wholly ourselves - in the sense of individuality as a unique divine thought - until we are reborn in Christ. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

The best person able to appraise promise as a mathematician is a gifted teacher, and not a professional tester. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

There are really no serious arguments for communion in the hand. But there are the most gravely serious kinds of arguments against it. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

One saintly priest attracts more souls to Christ ... than do those who lack the imprint of their sacred office — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

How fortunate for civilization, that Beethoven, Michelangelo, Galileo and Faraday were not required by law to attend schools where their total personalities would have been operated upon to make them learn acceptable ways of participating as members of "the group." — Joel Henry Hildebrand

Is it surprising that today we have become so morally blind (for wickedness blinds) that we save the baby whales at great cost, and murder millions of unborn children? — Alice Von Hildebrand

A child of the new generation Refused to learn multiplication. He said 'Don't conclude That I'm stupid or rude; I am simply without motivation.' — Joel Henry Hildebrand

Do you think that the Lord gave them to me for a decoration? — Alice Von Hildebrand

There is a sad forgetfulness of Christian modesty, especially in the life and dress of women. — Alice Von Hildebrand

There is nothing more opposed to equality than identity. — Alice Von Hildebrand

The members of the department became like the Athenians who, according to the Apostle Paul, "spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing." Anyone who thought he had a bright idea rushed out to try it out on a colleague. Groups of two or more could be seen every day in offices, before blackboards or even in corridors, arguing vehemently about these 'brain storms.' It is doubtful whether any paper ever emerged for publication that had not run the gauntlet of such criticism. The whole department thus became far greater than the sum of its individual members. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

[When questioned on his longevity] First of all, I selected my ancestors very wisely ... They were long-lived, healthy people. Then, as a chemist, I know how to eat, how to exercise, keep my blood circulating ... I don't worry. I don't get angry at people. I don't worry about things I can't help. I do what I can to make the world a better place to live, but I don't complain if things aren't right. As a scientist I take the world as I find it. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

For, just as love embodies the life of all virtues and expresses the inmost substance of all holiness, humility is the precondition and basic presupposition for the genuineness, the beauty, and the truth of all virtue. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

[About the demand of the Board of Regents of the University of California that professors sign non-Communist loyalty oaths or lose their jobs within 65 days.] No conceivable damage to the university at the hands of hypothetical Communists among us could possibly have equaled the damage resulting from the unrest, ill-will and suspicion engendered by this series of events. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

A woman by her very nature is maternal
for every woman, whether ... married or unmarried, is called upon to be a biological, psychological or spiritual mother
she knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for them
for maternity implies suffering
is infinitely more valuable in God's sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon. — Alice Von Hildebrand

To be conscious of one's weakness and to trust in God's help is the way to authentic strength and victory. — Alice Von Hildebrand

Happiness is love's outcome, never its motive. Where someone is loved he is an end in himself and certainly not a means toward something else. It is therefore of love's essence, wherever it is found, that the loved one seem precious, beautiful, and worthy of love. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

The way to attain the virtue of mercy lies in our constant awareness of being encompassed by mercy. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes. — Kenneth Hildebrand

The world in which we now live is a world whose outlook is so distorted that we absolutize what is relative (money-making, power, success) and relativize what is absolute (truth, moral values, and God). — Alice Von Hildebrand

Very few people do anything creative after the age of thirty-five. The reason is that very few people do anything creative before the age of thirty-five. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

The invention of IQ did a great disservice to creativity in education ... Individuality, personality, originality, are too precious to be meddled with by amateur psychiatrists whose patterns for a "wholesome personality" are inevitably their own. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

Better to be a beggar in freedom than to be forced into compromises against my conscience. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

By living up to their calling, women will succeed in guaranteeing a proper recognition of the unique value of femininity and its crucial mission in the world. — Alice Von Hildebrand

We must protect each other against the attacks of those self-appointed watchdogs of patriotism now abroad in the land who irresponsibly pin red labels on anyone whom they wish to destroy ... [Academic professionals are the only person competant to differentiate between honest independents and the Communists.] This is our responsibility. It is not a pleasant task. But if it is left to outsiders, the distinction is not likely to be made and those independent critics of social institutions among us who are one of the glories of a true university could be silenced. — Joel Henry Hildebrand

The diabolical work that has taken place since the legalization of abortion is that it has destroyed, in those tragic women who have allowed their child to be murdered, their sense for the sacredness of maternity. Abortion not only murders the innocent; it spiritually murders women ... the wound created in their souls is so great that only God's grace can heal it. The very soul of a woman is meant to be maternal. — Alice Von Hildebrand

Feminism without femininity is a sham. — Alice Von Hildebrand

One thing is certain: When the time has come, nothing which is man made will subsist. One day, all human accomplishments will be reduced to a pile of ashes. But every single child to whom a woman has given birth will live forever, for he has been given an immortal soul made to God's image and likeness. In this light, the assertion of de Beauvoir that 'women produce nothing' becomes particularly ludicrous. — Alice Von Hildebrand

Humility involves the full knowledge of our status as creatures, a clear consciousness of having received everything we have from God. — Dietrich Von Hildebrand

Anyone who thinks we can continue to have world wars but make them nice polite affairs by outlawing this weapon or that should meditate upon the outlawing of the cross-bow by Papal authority. Setting up the machinery for international law and order must surely precede disarmament. The Wild West did not abandon its shooting irons till after sheriffs and courts were established. — Joel Henry Hildebrand