“Since [a Christian] hears so many false notes in the cries of his contemporaries, he listens only to the song of the real masters of mankind. In a time like the present we have more need than ever of Sophocles, Dante, Shakespeare, and Racine. We must spend our time with men who make man more human, because we are great danger of becoming groveling wild animals. The Christian will make his soul a sanctuary for these great ones, and for all that is beautiful and true. Above all, he will strengthen his supernatural convictions. ‘In silence and in hope shall your strength be,’ Isaiah to his crushed people. We have to be silent, to invite silence. We must sweep the rubble and get back to our immovable foundations in this utter destitution. Preserve them. Think about them. Ponder them deeply.”
—Pie-Raymond Régamey, O.P. (1900–1996), Poverty: An Essential Element in the Christian Life, p. 203.