Posts by Christian Leithart

There are some things in life that are valuable despite their inconvenience. Books are valuable (in part) because of their inconvenience.

As someone who has never used AI and avoids its output whenever possible, I feel like I have superpowers. I can actually read a book and understand it. I can remember a state capital without asking ChatGPT. I can sit in one spot and slave over a poem or essay without asking a robot to do it for me.

The example of the men in Scott’s expedition shows that science, songs, and manners matter when your tent is gone and the temperature is 70 below. If they matter then, they matter now – after all, you do not know what the day may bring forth.

If anything, "Christian" should be a badge of honor adorning the best movies, the truest books, the most beautiful paintings, and the poems of greatest honesty and feeling.

Despite what we say, we are not "consuming content" so much as "dignifying photos, videos, and articles with our attention." Your sight is powerful. Use it wisely.

Setting yourself the goal of reading, say, a dozen books over a 12-month period is setting yourself up for failure unless you are already in the habit of reading. It would be far more effective, and easier on your conscience, to work on building your reading habits.

We have to train ourselves to accept the empty spaces because waiting is always uncomfortable.

Our culture does not have a good way to balance labor and leisure. For us, “leisure” often looks like laziness.

At the end of the day, the right poem to memorize is the one that, when someone asks why you were drawn to it, prompts you to honestly respond, “I just liked it.”

Authority and constraints are part of everyday life. The best path forward, then, is to accept the fact that we are limited and find ways to thrive under those limits.

Authority and constraints are part of everyday life. The best path forward, then, is to accept the fact that we are limited and find ways to thrive under those limits.

Arguments may change minds, but if you want to change a culture, sing.

Our country would do well to recover communal singing. Folk songs tell us about our national history in simple words that are easy to memorize. Anthems and fight songs reinforce our shared identity.

Our country would do well to recover communal singing. Folk songs tell us about our national history in simple words that are easy to memorize. Anthems and fight songs reinforce our shared identity.