"the act of attention . . . must conduct us to that brutal threshhold and pull us across it."

Christian Menghi (cropped)

"La verité de l’acte d’attention dont nous parlons doit nous conduire à ce seuil brutal et nous le faire franchir."

     Raymond Duval, "La dimension humaine de la vie spirituelle." La vie spirituelle 129 (1975):  857 (852-867).  The threshhold of eternity is death.  (The durable as distinguished from immediate conditions of attention are silence and solitude on the one hand, and the memento mori on the other.  Together they are an "amplification across the whole of one's life of the particular and precise attitude of the retreat" (856).)

"the sleeper, who endeavours to obtain sleep through the whole of life"

"my discourse does not bring with it an exhortation to every description of men. For it is not directed to those who are occupied in sordid mechanical arts, nor to those who are engaged in athletic exercises; neither to soldiers, nor sailors, nor rhetoricians, nor to those who lead an active life. But I write to the man who considers what he is, whence he came, and whither he ought to tend, and who, in what pertains to nutriment, and other necessary concerns, is different from those who propose to themselves other kinds of life; for to none but such as these do I direct my discourse. For, neither in this common life can there be one and the same exhortation to the sleeper, who endeavours to obtain sleep through the whole of life, and who, for this purpose, procures from all places things of a soporiferous nature, as there is to him who is anxious to repel sleep, and to dispose everything about him to a vigilant condition. But to the former it is necessary to recommend intoxication, surfeiting, and satiety, and to exhort him to choose a dark house, and

A bed, luxuriant, broad, and soft,---

as the poets say; and that he should procure for himself all such things as are of a soporiferous nature, and which are effective of sluggishness and oblivion, whether they are odours, or ointments, or are liquid or solid medicines. And to the latter it is requisite to advise the use of a drink sober and without wine, food of an attenuated nature, and almost approaching to fasting; a house lucid, and participating of a subtle air and wind, and to urge him to be strenuously excited by solicitude and thought, and to prepare for himself a small and hard bed. But, whether we are naturally adapted to this, I mean to a vigilant life, so as to grant as little as possible to sleep, since we do not dwell among those who are perpetually vigilant, or whether we are designed to be in a soporiferous state of existence, is the business of another discussion, and is a subject which requires very extended demonstrations."

     Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food 1.27, trans. Taylor.  I was put on to this by Bernard Collette-Dučić, "Sommeil, éveil et attention chez Plotin," χώρα:  revue d'études anciennes et médiévales 9/10 (2011/2012):  260 (259-281).

Sleeping through life

"Do not . . . seek to see with mortal eyes [the First] as our account describes it, nor to see that it is in the way in which someone would expect it to be who assumes that all things are perceived by the senses, by which supposition he eliminates that which is most real of all [(τὸ μάλιστα πάντων)].  For the things which one thinks are most real [(μὰλιστα)], are least real [(μὰλιστα οὐκ)]; and the [materially] large has less genuine existence.  But the First [(τὸ πρῶτον)] is the principle of existence and, again, more authentic than substantial reality [(κυριώτερον αὖ τῆς οὐσίας)].  So reverse your way of thinking [((ὥστε ἀντιστρεπτέον τὴν δόξαν)], or you will be left deprived of God, like the people at the festivals who by their gluttony stuff themselves with things which it is not lawful for those going in to the gods to take, thinking that these are more obviously real than the vision of the god for whom they ought to be celebrating the festival, and take no part in the rites within.  Yes, in these our rites also the god, since he is not seen, creates disbelief in his existence in those who think that that alone is obviously real [(ἐναργὲς)] which they see only with the flesh; as if people who slept through their life [(τινες διὰ βίου κοιμώμενοι)] thought the things in their dreams were reliable and obvious [(πιστὰ καὶ ἐναργῆ)], but, if someone woke them up, disbelieved in what they saw with their eyes open and went to sleep again.
     "One must perceive each thing by the appropriate organ [(Χρὴ δὲ βλέπειν ᾧ ἕκαστα δεῖ αἰσθάνεσθαι, No, it is necessary to see each thing by [that by] which it is necessary to perceive [it])], some things with the eyes, others with the ears, and so on.  One must believe, also, that one sees other things with the intellect, and not think that intellectual perception is seeing or hearing, which would be like insisting that the ears should see and that sounds do not exist because they are not visible."

     Plotinus, Enneads V.5 [32].11-12, as trans. A. H. Armstrong (LCL 444, 186-189).  I was put on to this by Bernard Collette-Dučić, "Sommeil, éveil et attention chez Plotin," χώρα:  revue d'études anciennes et médiévales 9/10 (2011/2012):  269 (259-281).  Enneads III.6 [26].6 (LCL 442, 239) is similar, but more strikingly dualistic.

"This is the glory of man: to persevere and remain in the service of God."

Orthodox Christianity

      St. Irenaeus, Adv. haer. 4.13.14 (SC 100) =4.25.1 (Harvey), as translated in the Liturgy of the hours for the Office of readings, Saturday after Ash Wednesday.  Latin from Harvey:  "Haec enim gloria hominis, persevare ac permanere in Dei servitute."

"if the bed sprouted, not a bed but wood would come up"

"man is born from man, but not bed from bed.  That is why people say that the figure is not the nature of a bed, but the wood is—if the bed sprouted[,] not a bed but wood would come up."

     Aristotle, Physics 2.1.193b ll. 8 ff., as trans. Hardie & Gaye.  I was put onto this by Michele M. Schumacher,"Gender Ideology and the 'Artistic' Fabrication of Human Sex: Nature as Norm or the Remaking of the Human?," The Thomist 80, no. 3 (July 2016): 398-399 (363–423).  Greek from the Teubner edition of 1879 ed. Prantl:

ἔτι γίνεται ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἀνθρώπου, αλλ' οὐ κλίνη ἐκ κλίνης (διό φασι τὸ σκῆμα ουκ εἶναι τὴν φύσιν ἀλλὰ τὸ ξύλον [ὅτι γένοιτ´ ἄν, εἰ βλαστάνοι, οὐ κλίνη ἀλλὰ ξύλον]· . . .)

Schumacher:

"This requirement of ancient and medieval art, or craftsmanship—namely, that creative ingenuity be matched by practical knowledge of one’s art, including knowledge of the natural properties of the materials employed therein—thus points to natural limitations.  The forms invented by man are, after all, limited by the forms created by God, whence the classic distinction between res artificiales and res naturales.  '[I]f you planted a bed and the rotting wood acquired the power of sending up a shoot,' Aristotle explains by way of an example, 'it would not be a bed that would come up, but wood.'  This, he suggests, demonstrates that the organization that is effected by the rules of art 'is merely an incidental attribute,' whereas the order attributable to nature 'persists continuously through the process of making.'  In short, whereas 'art imitates nature,' the reverse is not the case:  Nature does not imitate art.  Both human art and ethical action are necessarily, that is to say, naturally, limited by divine art; for God 'alone can produce a form in matter, without the aid of any preceding material form.'"

"Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom": A reasonably faithful pastiche

"Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom. He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for that which we do to him we do to Christ: we honor Christ if we honor the Pope; we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the Pope. I know very well that many defend themselves by boasting: 'They are so corrupt, and work all manner of evil!' But God has commanded that, even if the priests, the pastors, and Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils, we be obedient and subject to them, not for their sakes, but for the sake of God, and out of obedience to Him."

     St. Catherine of Siena, as quoted by Michael Warren Davis in "Pray for the Pope," First things, 10 December 2018, and often (and earlier) elsewhere, but without a reference.
     My current sense is that this is authentic, but a pastiche.  At the moment it looks to me like this comes from two separate passages in Letter 17 (Dupré Theseider =28 Tommasèo =191 Gigli) to Bernabò Visconti of Milan plus two somewhat more closely contiguous passages in Letter 68 (Dupré Theseider =207 Tommasèo =198 Gigli) to the Signori of Florence.  To see this you need the original Italian, which I've taken from the edition edited by Tommasèo and inserted into the standard Noffke translation:

"Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him".  Noffke, vol. 1, p. 69:  "Even if that vicar [of Christ] were a devil incarnate, I must not defy him but always humble myself [(io non debbo alzare il capo contro a lui, ma sempre umiliarmi)] and ask for the blood [of Christ] for mercy’s sake."  Note that "io non debbo alzare il capo contro a lui" (from Tommasèo, vol. 1, p. 119) would be, more literally, "I must not raise my head [(alzare il capo)] against him."

"calmly lie down to rest on his bosom".  Noffke, vol. 1, p. 71:  "I would have us humbly rest our heads on the lap of Christ in heaven [(Umilmente voglio che poniamo il capo in grembo di Cristo in cielo)] by our affection and love, and [on the lap] of Christ on earth (his deputy) by our reverence for the blood of Christ, to which he holds the keys."  Note that "grembo" (from Tommasèo, vol. 1, p. 121) can be translated, out of modern Italian at least, as "lap, womb, bosom".

"He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for that which we do to him we do to Christ: we honor Christ if we honor the Pope; we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the Pope."  Noffke, vol. 1, p. 214:  "whoever like a gangrenous limb rebels against holy Church and against our father, Christ on earth [(alla santa Chiesa, e al padre nostro Cristo in terra)], has fallen under the sentence of death [(è caduto nel bando della morte)], because whatever we do to him we are doing to Christ in heaven, whether it is reverence or dishonor."  Italian from Tommasèo, vol. 3, p. 251.  This match is less clear than the other three considered as a quotation (rather than a paraphrase), and especially when one considers how often St. Catherine repeats herself.

"many defend themselves by boasting: 'They are so corrupt, and work all manner of evil!'  But God has commanded that, even if the priests, the pastors, and Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils, we be obedient and subject to them, not for their sakes, but for the sake of God, and out of obedience to Him."  Noffke, vol. 1, 215:  "they defend themselves by saying [(dicendo)], 'They are bad, and they are doing all kinds of evil.'  But I am telling you that God wills, and has so commanded [(Dio vuole, e ha comandato così)], that even if the pastors and Christ on earth [(pastori, e Cristo in terra)] were devils incarnate (rather than good kind fathers), we must be submissive and obedient to them—not for what they are in themselves but out of obedience to God, because they take the place of Christ, who wants us to obey them."  Italian from Tommasèo, vol. 3, p. 251-252.

Pseudo-Bonhoeffer: "One can't be a Christian and a nationalist at the same time."

     Jean Lasserre, War and the gospel, trans. Oliver Coburn (London:  James Clarke & Co. Limited; Scottsdale, PA:  Herald Press, 1962 [1953]), 34:

Nothing in the Scriptures gives the Christian authority to tear apart the body of Christ for the State or anything else.  Do we believe in the Universal Church, in the communion of Saints, or do we believe in the eternal mission of our country?  One cannot believe in both at once; one cannot be a Christian and nationalist.

Of the translation in the header Mary Bonsanquet (The life and death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (New York:  Harper & Row, 1968), 89) may be the source.  Yet even she is clear that it wasn't Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said this, but rather Lasserre.  Nor does she claim that she is doing anything more than quoting the book by Lasserre first published in French in 1953 (La guerre et l'évangile (Paris:  La Réconciliation)), long after Bonhoeffer had already been executed by the Nazis.  Note also that her English is more faithful to the original French (and the French context) as reproduced below.  Bonsanquet:

'Do we believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, or do we believe in the eternal mission of France?  One can't be a Christian and a nationalist at the same time.'

Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer:  a biography, rev. ed. (Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2000), 154, citing the English translation given above (though, again, Bosanquet is clearly closer to the original French):

'Do we believe in the Universal Church, in the communion of saints, or do we believe in the eternal mission of our country? . . . one cannot be Christian and nationalist.'

Jean Lasserre, La guerre et l'évangile (Paris:  La Réconciliation, 1953), 41-42, as quoted in Frédéric Rognon, "Pacifisme et tyrannicide chez Jean Lasserre et Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Seconde partie:  l'interprétation des incidences théologiques," Études théologiques et religieuses 80, no. 2 (2005):  165 (159-176):

Rien, dans l’Écriture, n’autorise le chrétien à déchirer le corps de Christ au nom de quoi que ce soit.  Croyons-nous la Sainte Église universelle ? le communion des Saints ? ou bien croyons-nous en la mission éternelle de la France ? On ne peut pas croire les deux à la fois ; on ne peut pas être en même temps chrétien et nationaliste.