Quotes about Intellectual

Credo is the word with which the great creeds of early Chistendom begin.  “I believe. . .” we say.  The Latin credo means literally, “I give my heart.”  The word believe is a problematic one today in part because it has gradually changed its meaning from being the language of certainty so deep that I could give my heart to it, to the language of uncertainty so shallow that only the “credulous” would rely on it.  Faith, as we have seen, is not about propositions, but about commitment.  It does not mean that I intellectually subscribe to the following list of statements, but that I give my heart to this reality.  Believe, indeed, comes to us from the Old English belove, making clear that this too is meant to be heart language.  To say “I believe in Jesus Christ” is not to subscribe to an uncertain proposition.  It is a confession of commitment, of love.

"But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face.  The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid."

We should take care not to make intellect our god.  It has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.  It cannot lead, it can only serve.