Alexander Hamilton on paper versus gold.

Gold and silver, where they are employed merely as the instruments of exchange and alienation, have been not improperly denominated dead stock; but when deposited in banks to become the basis of a paper circulation, which takes their character and place as the signs or representatives of value, they then acquire life, or, in other words, an active and productive quality. This idea, which appears rather subtle and abstract in a general form, may be made obvious and palpable by entering into a few particulars. It is evident, for instance, that the money which a merchant keeps in his chest, waiting for a favorable opportunity to employ it, produces nothing till that opportunity arrives.

But if, instead of locking it up in this manner, he either deposits it in a bank or invests it in the stock of a bank, it yields a profit during the interval in which he partakes, or not, according to the choice he may have made of being a depositor or a proprietor; and when any advantageous speculation offers, in order to be able to embrace it, he has only to withdraw his money if a depositor or, if a proprietor, to obtain a loan from the bank, or to dispose of his stock; an alternative seldom or never attended with difficulty when the affairs of the institution are in a prosperous train. His money, thus deposited or invested, is a fund upon which himself and others can borrow to a much larger amount. It is a well-established fact that banks in good credit can circulate a far greater sum than the actual quantum of their capital in gold and silver.

Dostoyevsky: “Don’t lie to yourself”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Brothers Karamazov” (english | russian)

Father Zossima says:

Лгущий самому себе и собственную ложь свою слушающий до того доходит, что уж никакой правды ни в себе, ни кругом не различает, а стало быть, входит в неуважение и к себе и к другим. Не уважая же никого, перестает любить, а чтобы, не имея любви, занять себя и развлечь, предается страстям и грубым сладостям и доходит совсем до скотства в пороках своих, а всё от беспрерывной лжи и людям и себе самому. Лгущий себе самому прежде всех и обидеться может. Ведь обидеться иногда очень приятно, не так ли? И ведь знает человек, что никто не обидел его, а что он сам себе обиду навыдумал и налгал для красы, сам преувеличил, чтобы картину создать, к слову привязался и из горошинки сделал гору, — знает сам это, а все-таки самый первый обижается, обижается до приятности, до ощущения большого удовольствия, а тем самым доходит и до вражды истинной… Да встаньте же, сядьте, прошу вас очень, ведь всё это тоже ложные жесты…

Fyodor Pavlovitch answers:

“It is, it is pleasant to take offence. You said that so well, as I never heard it before. Yes, I have been all my life taking offence, to please myself, taking offence on aesthetic grounds, for it is not so much pleasant as distinguished sometimes to be insulted — that you had forgotten, great elder, it is distinguished! I shall make a note of that. But I have been lying, lying positively my whole life long, every day and hour of it. Of a truth, I am a lie, and the father of lies. Though I believe I am not the father of lies. I am getting mixed in my texts. Say, the son of lies, and that will be enough.

Which Old Testament Book Did Jesus Quote Most?

People didn’t follow Jesus only because of his miracles—they also followed him because he knew how to handle the Old Testament:

  • He could match wits with the temple teachers at age 12 (Lk 2:42, 46–47).
  • He resisted the devil’s temptations using passages from Deuteronomy (Mt 4:1–11).
  • He stumped the Pharisees when it came to who the son of David is (Mt 22:41–46).

Jesus is the greatest Old Testament scholar of all time, and it makes me wonder: which books of the Old Testament does Jesus quote most often in the Gospels?

  • Exodus: 7
  • Isaiah: 8
  • Deuteronomy: 10
  • Psalms: 11