Quote of the Day (Poet Jack Gilbert, on How ‘We Must Risk Delight’)

 

“We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.” —American poet Jack Gilbert (1925-2012), “A Brief for The Defense,” in Refusing Heaven (2005)