“If someone throws aside their pride and begs with all their heart, and if they do so in vain, then they are never quite the same person afterwards. Something in them dies, and something else comes to life.”
“Everybody betrayed her, so why expect otherwise? But it turned out that distrust could fool you and endanger you, just as trust could.”
“Mother was like this sometimes. Conversations became riddles with traps in them, and your answers had consequences.”
“Looking at the rich and powerful was dangerous, like peering into the sun.”
“Habits, places and faces grew into you over time, like tree roots burrowing into stone work.”
“Lord Fellmotte was not a man. He was an ancient committee. A parliament of deathly rooks in a dying tree.”
“Even when she slept, her anxieties did not.”
“Before her escort could react, she sprinted out from their little pool of lantern-light into the darkness, her feet pounding the soft, treacherous clods of the field. The guards called after her for a while, but did not pursue, In a lost city, how could they chase down every lost soul who became a little more lost?”
“The minister was kind when you met him in the street, but terrifying in the pulpit. From the rapt faces of the other listeners, Makepeace could tell that there must be great truths shining in him, and love like a cold white comet.”
“His gaze made her feel like a mouse in owl-country.”
“I trust you, she had often told him. But was that true?
No, she realized, with a feeling like grief. All these years, even while she plotted with James, in her heart of hearts she had been waiting for him to betray her. When at last she had looked into his eyes and seen a host of dead enemies staring back, her mind had filled with a storm. But there had been an eye to that storm, a quiet core where a calm, relieved voice was saying: Ah, there it is at last. No more waiting for the sword to fall.”
“The Bible says we should know a tree by the fruit it bears," Makepeace replied, a little sharply. "If you burn my hand off, what should I think of you?”
“— What were you thinking about, child?
— I was thinking of heaven.
— It’s unnecessary for you to think of heaven: there’s already enough to consider about earth. Are you tired of living, you who have barely been born?
— No, but everyone prefers heaven to earth.
— Well, not I. For since heaven, as well as earth, has been made by God, you may count on encountering up there the very same evils as here below. After your death, you will not be rewarded according to your deserts, for if injustices are done you on this earth (as you will find out later by experience) there is no reason why, in the next life, you will not be further wronged. The best thing for you to do is not think of God, and since it is refused you, to make your own justice.”
“That light is bright enough to light up a little speck of the night sky so a man can see it a ways away. That's what God expects us to do. We're to be lights in the dark, cold days that are this world. Like fireflies in December.
”
“Never forget Yesu is King. Never forget your home is in another world. Never forget your father will be waiting to see you again.”
“Three men came in. They wore ragged jeans, tight T-shirts, and work boots. And they sat at one of Grace's tables.
Noah was up and off his bar stool in a heartbeat. Ben silently wondered if he should be paying Noah a bouncer's salary, considering how much time he spent making certain Grace's work environment stayed pleasant. Noah didn't say anything to the men, but he did stop Grace, tip up her chin, and give her a lingering kiss right in the middle of the floor. Grace got so flustered, she nearly dropped her tray.
Noah released her, gave the men a long look, and positioned himself at an empty table—facing them.
Ben had to turn away so no one would see him laughing. If he ever got that smitten with a woman, he hoped someone would shoot him to put him out of his misery.”
“the irrational invalidates any meaning attached to it.”
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