Customer Reviews

Abounding Grace An Anthology Of Wisdom

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a powerful book. I loved it. I would also recommend An Encounter With A Prophet and Conversations with God. All three books helped me.

The truth must be told. We don't own this book ... yet. Instead, we browsed through it at a very large, library like bookstore. The look and feel of the book made it difficult to put back on the shelf. Indeed, we found that this thick book was a feast of words, containing hundreds and hundreds of quotes - 1,600 or so -- on topics having to do with virtue: happiness, courage, compassion, purity, perseverance, courtesy, faith, goodness, love, respect, strength, and wisdom.

But it proved to be much more than just the usual collection of great quotes, or words of wisdom to look at once in a while, or copy onto websites and into newsletters. "Virtue" when served up by M. Scott Peck goes beyond conventional, dogmatic wisdom that sees goodness as something to be applied externally, and medicinally.

Peck thoughtfully reflects on what virtue is, what it means to individuals, how it emerges in each of us, from deep within. Before each section of quotes from a variety of people from different cultures, times, and beliefs, he offers his own reflections and experiences (on light purple paper, so you can easily see where each section begins) about the topic.

We love this book because it gives us all those favorite quotes, and some delicious food for thought. For the M. Scott Peck fan (The Road Less Traveled), this book will be a welcome gift (its on MY list to give and get)!

Scott peck has put together this anthology of quotes on the virtues of happiness, courage, compassion, purity, perseverance, courtesy, faith, goodness, love, respect, strength, and wisdom. If you have a natural philosophical bent you will find most of the quotes in this 384 page book to be quite profound. If you have no interest in a collection of quotes then don't buy this book. If you do read on and see what you think of this sampling of quotes found in the book:

CHARITY

Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness when bequeathed by those who, when alive, would part with nothing.
- Charles Caleb Colton

Charity, to be fruitful, must cost us.
- Mother Teresa

COMPASSION

One cannot weep for the entire world. It is beyond human strength. One must choose. - Jean Anouilh

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat... We must find each other.
- Mother Teresa

GRATITUDE

A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues. - Cicero

Into the well which supplies thee with water, cast no stones. - Talmud

No duty is more urgent than returning thanks. - Saint Ambrose

Wise men appreciate all men, for they see the good in each, and know how hard it is to make anything good. - Baltasar Gracian

HAPPINESS

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. - Helen Keller

Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude. - Joseph Wood Krutch

I find my joy of living in the fierce and ruthless battles of life, and my pleasure comes from learning something. - August Strindberg

If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.
- Edith Wharton

COURAGE

Often the test of courage is not to die but to live. - Vittorio Alfieri

What is to give light must endure burning - Victor Frankl

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage - Seneca

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment. - Napoleon I

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. - Muriel Strode

It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it.
- George Christopher Litenburg

Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?
- Frank Scully

I was under the impression this was a collection of essays or articles, but it is a collection of quotes. The quotes aren't bad, but not up to par with what I expected. I nearly gave it three stars, but the quotes are pretty good and would be appreciated if you were looking for quotes (and not essays).

This book consists of twelve chapters with quotes encompassing happiness, courage, compassion, purity, perseverance, courtesy, faith, goodness, love, respect, strength, and wisdom as envisioned by Aristotle, Condoleeza Rice, the Lakota American Indians, Mother Theresa, Willa Cather, George Burns, Robert Frost, Helen Keller Mahatma Gandhi, to mention a few. If you want to push the spiritual envelope even further, take a look at "A Cosmic Sea of Words" by Harold Klemp. Both of these books are excellent.

This book contains a fairly large variety of famous & not so famous quotations by virtue within overarching categories. Per its title, it has a Christian bias; it includes some Jewish & Moslem quotes, but almost no Eastern wisdom--the subtitle "An Anthology of Wisdom" should say "Western Wisdom." My quote collection contained a few of these, but (per most such collections) most aren't my cup of tea-obvious, hackneyed, or uninspiring IMHO. Still, I collected over 50 here--not bad. Some were taken from Peck's introductions to each category which are well-written & explicit regarding his perspective; mine differs, but his candor is commendable. Regrettably, neither quote sources nor an index are provided, & many great quotes are absent. Many of those included seem to me to be knowledge rather than wisdom. Some are humorous: p. 92: Douglas Jerrold-He was so benevolent, so merciful a man that, in his mistaken passion, he would have held an umbrella over a duck in a shower of rain; p. 311: Malcolm X-I learned that pilgrims from every land-every color & class & rank-all snored in the same language; p. 379: Armenian Proverb-If there were wisdom in beards, all goats would be prophets.
Some are practical: p. 72: Anonymous Chicago Teacher-Risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. They may avoid suffering & sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their attitudes they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is free.
p. 277: Anonymous-You can win more friends with your ears than your mouth.
p. 348: Gustavo Diaz Ordaz-I like to operate like a submarine on sonar. When I am picking up noise from both he left & right, I know my course is correct.
p. 358: Sam Levinson-It was on my 5th birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder & said, `Remember my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
Some are profound: p. 331: Joanna Field-The growth of understanding follows an ascending spiral rather than a straight line. p. 378: Greek Proverb-Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.
Some are unusual: p. 67: Thomas Szasz-The proverb warns that, ;You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself.
Some are all of the above: p. 67: Will Henry-The wishbone will never replace the backbone.
p. 362: Nancy Reagan-A woman is like a tea bag; you don't know her strength until she is in hot water.
Overall, it's a pretty good collection & hopeful considering Peck's conclusion that: p. 232: Ever so slowly, almost imperceptibly, our standards of decency seem to be rising.

This book is wonderful. Dr. Peck's commentary on each section gets one to see these aspects in a fresh way. The quotes are highly thought-provoking and stimulating-each one a gem of insight.

More than just the usual topical selection of quotes, Dr. Peck has carefully selected quotes with his life philosophy in mind. Truly an inspiring and uplifting collection.

My self-help phase is well behind me now. There comes a time when you have to stop sifting yourself and just admit: This is what you are. It doesn't mean you should--or can--stop trying. It just means that mortal flesh is not infinitely pliable, that there is no transformation-in-a-bottle to be had. Books abound which promise E-Z enlightenment, and people abound who have failed to avoid them, to their sorrow. M. Scott Peck's remarkable career has bucked the marketing trend of these books by reiterating the commonplace truth, "Life is difficult." The wisdom that so many people have found in his works is thanks to his clinical psychological experience and to his Christian faith, which nowadays is somewhat filtered by a nimbus of syncretism. He hasn't always made all the right moves. _People of the Lie_ nearly went off the rails toward the end when he used his theories about evil to settle some old personal scores. And _The Different Drum_ threatened to float away into the New Age, as well as betraying some truly embarrassing political stupidity about communist countries. But _The Road Less Traveled_ was a lodestar for me at an impressionable age, as it was for millions of others.

So it is with a degree of nostalgia that I took up _Abounding Grace_. I am an insatiable quote-hound, so I hoovered the contents as fast as I could, and passed them along to people who could also appreciate them. It is a big book with a dozen chapters, with many subheadings for each one. The authors of the quotes are identified, but not the sources, and there is no index. The narrative introductions to the sections are themselves strewn with quotes-a little sneakiness by the author to get me to read them? They also include various anecdotes and personal opinions about the virtues being treated.

The quotations are well chosen, many of them being unfamiliar to me (which, if I do say so myself, is saying something). All are good and pithy, and are sure to strike a chord with someone. He indulges in an ipsedixitism or two, quoting himself, but that's okay; he's entitled. _Abounding Grace_ is a fine handbook of wisdom, which looks like it will return many hours of pleasurable self-discovery.

M. Scott Peck reaches new heights of Blowhardiness with this dull tome of the world's most exhausted quotes. Where haven't we seen these quotes before--a thousand times over? People, wake up, this guy loves to hear himself talk and see his name in print. And have you all pick up the tab!!