Wednesday, December 15, 2010

No Time for the Meannesses of Life

(Repost from Kevin DeYoung) No Time for the Meannesses of Life:

"Paul Johnson on one of the reasons for Winston Churchill’s greatness:

Fourth, Churchill wasted an extraordinarily small amount of his time and emotional energy on the meannesses of life: recrimination, shifting the blame onto others, malice, revenge seeking, dirty tricks, spreading rumors, harboring grudges, waging vendettas. Having fought hard, he washed his hands and went on to the next contest. It is one reason for his success. There is nothing more draining and exhausting than hatred. And malice is bad for judgment.

Churchill loved to forgive and make up. His treatment of Baldwin and Chamberlain after he became prime minister is an object lesson in sublime magnanimity. Nothing gave him more pleasure than to replace enmity with friendship, not least with the Germans. (Churchill, 164-65)

The six pages of the Epilogue are the most memorable six pages I read all year."

No comments: