You do not mean by mystery what a Catholic does. You mean an interesting uncertainty: the uncertainty ceasing, interest ceases also.... But a Catholic by mystery means an incomprehensible certainty: without certainty, without formulation there is no interest;... the clearer the formulation the greater the interest.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Hopkins contrasts secular uncertainty with Catholic mystery, arguing that true mystery involves incomprehensible certainty.
- In plain terms
- True mystery is not just uncertainty; it is a deep, unexplainable certainty.
- What can you take from it?
- Seek depth in faith rather than simple answers.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What mystery do you find comforting?
- How do you define certainty?
Another view
This view may alienate those who prefer rational clarity over mystery.
More from Gerard Manley Hopkins
By the by, if the English race had done nothing else, yet if they left the world the notion of a gentleman, they would have done a great service to mankind.
Permalink to quote #15 It kills me to be time's eunuch and never to beget.
Permalink to quote #17 I always knew in my heart Walt Whitman's mind to be more like my own than any other man's living. As he is a very great scoundrel this is not a pleasant confes…
Permalink to quote #14
Related quotes
Man knows that love is, but not what it is.
Emanuel SwedenborgEmanuel Swedenborg quote #1 If you want me to believe in God, you must make me touch him.
Denis DiderotDenis Diderot quote #2 Faith is, at one and the same time, absolutely necessary and altogether impossible.
Stanislaw LemStanislaw Lem quote #3