Quotes from A Light in the Window

Jan Karon ·  480 pages

Rating: (19.7K votes)


“I believe that's when God first started speaking to my heart--the very day I started speaking to His!”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


“Love is an actual need, an urgent requirement of the heart," he read aloud from an old essay on marriage that he found in his files.

"Every properly constituted human being who entertains an appreciation of loneliness...and looks forward to happiness and content feels the necessity of loving. Without it, life is unfinished...”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


“Was he willing to blend into the life of another human being for the rest of his days, and have hers blend into his? That, of course, was the Bible’s bottom line on marriage: one flesh. Not separate entities, not two autonomous beings merely coming together at dinnertime or brushing past one another in the hallway, holding on to their singleness, guarding against invasion. One flesh!" (p. 207).”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


“Oh, Timothy, how could you not have loved someone all these years? Loving absolutely seeps from you, like a spring that bubbles up in a meadow.” “Maybe you can convince me of that, but I doubt it. I find myself niggardly and self-seeking, hard as stone somewhere inside. Look how I’ve treated you.” “Yes, but you could never deceive me into thinking you were hard as stone. You’ve always betrayed your tenderness to me, something in your face, your eyes, your voice ...” “Then I have no cover with you?” “Very little.” “ ‘Violet only wanted a friend,’ ” he quoted, “ ‘but every time she tried to have one, she did something that chased them away.”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


“My work is awfully labored just now. Sometimes it has the most wondrous life of its own, it fairly pulls me along—rather like wind surfing! At other times, it drags and mopes, so that I despair of ever writing another word or drawing another picture. I’ve found that if one keeps pushing along during the mopes, out will flash the most exhilarating thought or idea—a way of doing something that I had never seen before—and then, one is off again, and hold on to your hat!”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window



“We are not necessarily doubting,” said C. S. Lewis, “that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” He”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


“graced lawn parties at Fernbank.” Hoppy stood and applauded.”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


“is asked of us in our time,’ the writer said, ‘is that we break open our blocked caves and find each other. Nothing less will heal the anguished spirit, nor release the heart to act in love.”
― Jan Karon, quote from A Light in the Window


About the author

Jan Karon
Born place: in Lenoir, North Carolina, The United States
Born date January 1, 1937
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“So, my credo consists of the pursuit and the act. One without the other is self-indulgence.”
― quote from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women


“Honoria ground her teeth. "What on earth am I to do with you?"
Devil's features hardened, "Marry me." His voice was a frustrated growl. "The rest will follow naturally.”
― Stephanie Laurens, quote from Devil's Bride


“Hi, my name is Jareth, and I'll be your- God" He curses as he lays his eyes on me.
I raised an eyebrow. "You'll be my god? Hm...Well, we'll have to see about that. I mean, it takes a lot to my world these days.”
― Mari Mancusi, quote from Stake That


“The illusion of being superior engenders the need to prove it; and so oppression is born. A bishop in Africa told me that, even though there were few Christians in the area, he had built his cathedral bigger than the local mosque. All this to prove that Christianity was a better, more powerful religion than Islam. So we build walls around our group and cultivate our certitudes. Prejudice grows on such walls. How did we, the human race, get to this position where we judge it natural not just to band ourselves into groups, but to set ourselves group against group, neighbour against neighbour, in order to establish some ephemeral sense of superiority? One of the fundamental issues for people to examine is how to break down these walls that separate us one from another; how to open up one to another; how to create trust and places of dialogue.”
― Jean Vanier, quote from Becoming Human


“Connecting to the outernet was less of a shock this time, as the monitor gave him a sense of distance from it, but it was still annoying. How did these people live with such a system, stalked by advertisements and "free" offers and icons that would take you to another site, unasked-for, the moment you gave them your attention? It was like wending your way through an obstacle course. Perhaps after a while you just learned to tune it all out... or perhaps you could buy programs that did it for you. He would have to design himself one of those before he did any more real work on the outernet, though he suspected that the consumer programs which were stalking him were capable of adapting to anything he could turn out quickly.

Advertising: the ultimate predator.

He longed for the simplicity of the Gueran network, which simply did what it was supposed to and no more. When had these people lost touch with the fact that the purpose of a network was to facilitate communication, not impede it?”
― C.S. Friedman, quote from This Alien Shore


Interesting books

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
(31.2K)
Flora & Ulysses: The...
by Kate DiCamillo
Influx
(13.1K)
Influx
by Daniel Suarez
The Emperor's Conspiracy
(1K)
The Emperor's Conspi...
by Michelle Diener
Hurting Distance
(4.9K)
Hurting Distance
by Sophie Hannah
Something Like Spring
(1.6K)
Something Like Sprin...
by Jay Bell
Mortal Enchantment
(0.9K)
Mortal Enchantment
by Stacey O'Neale

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.