- Debilitating
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- Nov 07, 2020
Ascetic Quotes
Discipline, solitude, and the pull toward simplicity.
This collection looks at asceticism from several angles, including a childhood shaped by a well-educated, solitude-loving monk from the order of Pijar. Related reflections on restraint continue under Afford quotes.
- Last Updated on Jul 30, 2026
- Man
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- Nov 07, 2020
My father was the church organist; the village curate was my mother's brother, a former monk from the order of Pijar, a very well-educated and ascetic man who loved nothing but solitude.
- Debilitating
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- Nov 07, 2020
No sane man can afford to dispense with debilitating pleasures; no ascetic can be considered reliably sane.
- Love
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- Nov 07, 2020
I love my work with a frenetic and perverse love, as an ascetic loves the hair shirt which scratches his belly.
- Head
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- Nov 07, 2020
Asceticism doesn't lie in ascetic robes or in walking staff nor in the ashes. Asceticism doesn't lie in the earring nor in the shaven head nor blowing a conch. Asceticism lies in remaining pure amidst impurities.
- Burial
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- Nov 07, 2020