Peter Maurin: We call barbarians people living on the other side of the border.
We call civilized people living on this side of the border. We civilized, living on this side of the border, are not ashamed to arm ourselves to the teeth so as to protect ourselves against the barbarians living on the other side.
And when the barbarians born on the other side of the border invade us, we do not hesitate to kill them. So we civilized exterminate barbarians without civilizing them. And we persist in calling ourselves civilized.
Peter Maurin: I don't give blueprints or five-year plans. You must learn by doing. Education is a life process.
HCW: Do you believe in freedom?
Peter Maurin: Freedom is a duty more than a right. Having pure aims and using pure means is making the right use of freedom.
HCW: Why do you always talk about the Works of Mercy?
Peter Maurin: In the first centuries of Christianity pagans said about Christians: "See how they love each other."
The love of God and neighbor was the characteristic of the first Christians. This love was expressed through the daily practice of the Works of Mercy. To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to instruct the ignorant at a personal sacrifice was considered by the first Christians as the right thing to do.
We cannot imitate the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary by trying to get all we can.
We can only imitate the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary by trying to give all we can.
I feel that you have to keep to a personalist approach, which is so much more profound than politics.
Charles PÃ ©guy used to say: "There are two things in this world, politics and mysticism."
Politics is just politics and is not worth bothering about and mysticism is mysterious and is worth all our striving.
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