[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f8rYx5fGs2kbYP4wAK1WzIfMz5XwAmJQUwvusIIB0h5s":3,"$f-ZYuJzltg0sMQGhwZjttYwKM7WjwdRbfIkt7hc0MNBg":52},{"author":4,"tags":51},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":10,"bio_jsonld":11,"slug":49,"image_url":50},7710,"Antonin Sertillanges","A",24,"The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a sustained revival of Thomistic philosophy within Catholic intellectual life, as thinkers sought to reconcile scholastic tradition with modern philosophical questions. Antonin Sertillanges was born on November 16, 1863, in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and worked as a philosopher and theologian within that setting.\n\nSertillanges was a French friar and Catholic priest who also served as a university teacher and translator. He composed his writings primarily in French, though he also worked with Latin, a language central to the scholastic and theological traditions he engaged with throughout his career. His roles were multiple and overlapping: alongside his academic work, he contributed to public discourse as an opinion journalist.\n\nAs a Catholic theologian, Sertillanges occupied a position at the intersection of institutional religious life and scholarly inquiry. His work as a translator placed him in the role of mediating between languages and intellectual traditions. The combination of priestly vocation, academic teaching, and journalistic writing gave his public presence a range that extended across several spheres of French intellectual and religious culture during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.\n\nSertillanges died on July 26, 1948, in Sallanches, France, having worked across philosophy, theology, translation, and journalism over the course of his long career. The Library of Congress records him under the authorized label \"Sertillanges, A.-D., 1863-1948,\" a designation reflecting the span of his active life and the name under which his published works are catalogued.","The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw a sustained revival of Thomistic philosophy within Catholic intellectual life, as thinkers sought to reconcile scholastic tradition with modern philosophical questions. Antonin Sertillanges was born on November 16, 1863, in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and worked as a philosopher and theologian within that setting.",{"@graph":12,"@context":48},[13,25],{"@id":14,"name":6,"@type":15,"sameAs":16,"birthDate":22,"deathDate":23,"description":24},"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2322416","Person",[14,17,18,19,20,21],"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonin_Sertillanges","https://viaf.org/viaf/66505734/","https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n89632727","https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL120000A","https://d-nb.info/gnd/101296290","1863-11-16","1948-07-26","French philosopher (1863–1948)",{"@type":26,"author":27,"headline":30,"isBasedOn":31,"mainEntity":32,"reviewedBy":33,"articleBody":9,"dateCreated":34,"dateModified":35,"additionalProperty":36,"creativeWorkStatus":47},"Article",{"name":28,"@type":29},"Editorial Team","Organization","Antonin Sertillanges — biography",[14,17,19,20],{"@id":14},{"name":28,"@type":29},"2026-05-24T06:36:42.985973+00:00","2026-05-24T06:44:41.660709+00:00",[37,41,44],{"@type":38,"value":39,"propertyID":40},"PropertyValue","Q2322416","wikidata",{"@type":38,"value":42,"propertyID":43},"1.000","factscore",{"@type":38,"value":45,"propertyID":46},"claude-sonnet-4-6-r1","draftModel","AI-drafted, auto-published","https://schema.org","antonin-sertillanges",null,[],{"quotes":53,"pagination":128},[54,63,69,75,81,87,93,99,105,111],{"id":55,"quote_text":56,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":59,"source":60,"quote_tag":61,"commentary":62},2863155,"If it is a book, do not leave it without being able to sum it up and to estimate its value.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis quote, \"If it is a book, do not leave it without being able to sum it up and to estimate its value,\" was likely penned by Antonin Sertillanges during his tenure as a Dominican friar and philosopher in early 20th-century France. As part of the Catholic tradition that emphasized the importance of contemplation and discernment, Sertillanges would have been steeped in the habit of critically evaluating intellectual pursuits and their potential to contribute meaningfully to one's life.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nAt first glance, this quote seems straightforward: a call to be discerning about the books we read. However, upon closer examination, it reveals a tension between two competing values that Sertillanges is trying to balance. On one hand, there is an emphasis on intellectual curiosity and openness, as evidenced by his willingness to engage with various texts. On the other hand, he is advocating for a certain level of critical distance and evaluation – being able to sum up and estimate the value of what we read. This paradox highlights the importance of not getting lost in mere information-gathering, but rather cultivating a thoughtful and discerning approach to learning.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nIn today's digital age, where it's easy to get swept up in endless streams of information, this quote offers a valuable lesson for modern professionals and creatives. To apply Sertillanges' insight, one should strive to cultivate the habit of critically evaluating what they read or listen to, not just consuming content passively. This means asking oneself: \"What is the main takeaway from this text? What value will I derive from it?\" By doing so, we can avoid getting lost in a sea of information and instead focus on cultivating meaningful knowledge that informs our work and lives.",{"id":64,"quote_text":65,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":66,"source":67,"quote_tag":68,"commentary":50},2863146,"When silence takes possession of you; when far from the racket of the human highway the sacred fire flames up in the stillness; when peace, which is the tranquillity of order, puts order in your thoughts, feelings, and investigations, you are in the supreme disposition for learning; you can bring your materials together; you can create; you are definitely at your working point; it is not the moment to dwell on wretched trifles, to half live while time runs by, and to sell heaven for nothings.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":70,"quote_text":71,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":72,"source":73,"quote_tag":74,"commentary":50},2863138,"The man who is too isolated grows timid, abstracted, a little odd: He stumbles along amid realities like a sailor who has just come off his ship; he has lost the sense of the human lot; he seems to look on you as if you were a “proposition” to be inserted in a syllogism, or an example to be put down in a notebook.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":76,"quote_text":77,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":78,"source":79,"quote_tag":80,"commentary":50},2863129,"How puerile it would be, and what a dangerous heresy from the religious point of view, to believe that passion in its proper place is offensive to God! We are not Manicheans, that we should incline to believe that the flesh is under a curse, and that all matter springs from the Principle of Evil. Rather do we say that matter and the flesh come from God.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":82,"quote_text":83,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":84,"source":85,"quote_tag":86,"commentary":50},2863122,"The true bread had to be steeped in blood, broken with the gesture of loving sacrifice, distributed in the communion of a banquet for the whole world, and this upon a hill which foreshadowed Calvary, and like Calvary was destined to endure forever.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":88,"quote_text":89,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":90,"source":91,"quote_tag":92,"commentary":50},2863109,"Love truth and its fruits of life, for yourself and for others; devote to study and to the profitable use of study the best part of your time and your heart.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":94,"quote_text":95,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":96,"source":97,"quote_tag":98,"commentary":50},2863093,"Courage is sustained by calling up anew the vision of the goal.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":100,"quote_text":101,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":102,"source":103,"quote_tag":104,"commentary":50},2863083,"Truth serves only its slaves.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":106,"quote_text":107,"author_id":5,"source_id":57,"has_image":58,"author":108,"source":109,"quote_tag":110,"commentary":50},2863072,"We must beware of yielding to the pressure of a spirit of cowardly conformity which proclaims itself everybody’s friend in the hope that everybody will obligingly return the compliment.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[],{"id":112,"quote_text":113,"author_id":5,"source_id":114,"has_image":58,"author":115,"source":116,"quote_tag":117,"commentary":50},696390,"We hear our legislators proclaim unceasingly their respect for the individual conscience, though it be a religious conscience, and themselves anticlericals.All the same, all their efforts tend to, dissociate us, and to reduce us to the state of amorphous dust. They can bear no organised society other than what they call a lay society no government other than their government and no social finality other than their temporal aspirations.",2,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":49,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":50},{},[118,123],{"id":119,"tag":120},3453359,{"id":121,"tag_name":122},615,"politics",{"id":124,"tag":125},3453360,{"id":126,"tag_name":127},11204,"secularism",{"currentPage":129,"totalPages":130,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":131},1,3,10]