“If you are going to run a marathon, you don’t get ready for it by running around the block the day before.”
Liberty Is Not Ethereal
“We have forgotten that liberty must be understood in terms of durable goods.”
Don’t Italicize Their Point
“You can’t ask someone if you have a short temper and then blow up (or stop talking to them for six months) if they say yes.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 21
Politicians Who Say Arrrgh
“Where do I get the authority to relegate the mighty ones who pass our tax laws (in their august and solemn assemblies) to the status of those who say arrrgh, and who have a parrot on their shoulders.”
A Metaphor for Your Spiritual Condition
“Too many Christians have adopted a foolish approach to automotive maintenance. ‘Don’t lift the hood if you don’t want to know.’ That’s not the way to go. It means you’re not trying to deal with the problem until it’s desperate. There are a lot of problems that can be corrected with minimal intervention—but if you put it off, put it off, put it off, then the engine freezes and everything blows up. Just change the oil now, and this won’t happen.”
Keep Your Kids, pp. 19-20
Theft Presupposes Property Rights
“I cannot commit adultery is there is no marriage. I cannot murder if there is no right to life. I cannot bear false witness if there is no truth. And, bring this to the point, I cannot steal or covet unless there is such a thing as my neighbor having a right to whatever is modified by his very own personal pronoun. To adapt the nouns from the tenth commandment—his house, his servants, his livestock, or anything else that is HIS.”
Three Years After the Congregation Took a Vow
“But in three years, that very same child might be careening around the cookie table like a chimpanzee on meth, with both fists full of cookies. If one of our parents remembers the vow we all took back in that heartwarming moment and attempts to talk with you about your child, how easy is it to get defensive? The answer: very easy. Your heart and your mouth are full of arguments that are, on paper, good arguments. This person doesn’t know your child’s name. This person doesn’t know your child’s favorite food (it’s cookies). This person doesn’t know your child’s bedtime (they don’t have a bedtime).”
Keep Your Kids, pp. 18-19
Of Necessity
“When there is no standard above the state, then the state becomes the standard. If there is no God above the system, then the system becomes god.”
Leaning the Wrong Way
“We should always remember our propensity to guard against the sin we are least likely to fall into. The indulgent parent is all on guard against tyranny, and the tyrannical parent is very careful not to be too soft.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 17
Sin Doesn’t Balance Sin
“In contrast, the dictatorial parent thinks that he is simply being firm, while the indulgent parent thins she is simply being kind. In both cases, they call their failure something else. And on top of that, both types often believe that they’re ‘balancing out’ the other. They each lean in opposite directions in the canoe, which, incidentally, is how you capsize a canoe.”
Keep Your Kids, p. 16