“Don't be fooled by strength you can see," he said at last. "Yahweh often hides His power in the simple things, the weak things, and so His strength seems foolish in man's eyes.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Shebna scraped the tablet clean and began drawing circles in the soft clay. "Suppose you had six figs and you ate two. How many would--"
"Four." Hezekiah answered before Shebna finished, and the tutor's thick black eyebrows rose in surprise.
"And suppose I had five figs. How many would we--"
"Nine."
"Have you done this before?"
Hezekiah thought the question was ridiculous. "I've eaten figs lots of times.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“And he realized that this was their attitude toward Yahweh, too. They either hurried through life, ignoring Him, or they regarded Yahwey and His commandments with contempt.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Only a coward would send his children to their deaths in order to save his own life.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Yes, of course Yahweh could defeat all of Judah’s enemies.” “Then why didn’t He, Grandpa?” Zechariah’s face looked sad as he shook his head. “Because our nation no longer believes in Him... and so no one bothered to ask Him to.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Hmm. Relationships between fathers and sons can be notoriously difficult, especially for two men who are as different as you and your father are."
"Yes, and he's also the king--that makes our relationship impossible.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Yahweh doesn’t owe us an explanation for what He does. He’s sovereign over all: ‘Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know?... If he comes along and confines you in prison... who can oppose him?’ So you see? I don’t need to know why anymore.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“When you only believe in things you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands, it is idolatry.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“He had lived to please himself instead of God all those years, giving little more than lip service to His holy laws. And now when Zechariah cried out to God, his numberless sins swallowed up his prayers before they reached heaven. His guilt filled the yawning gulf between him and God.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Every time you compromise, something inside your spirit dies a little,”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“The only way to revive Temple worship is through repentance. The men of Judah must give up their idolatry and turn their hearts back to God.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Belief in Yahweh doesn't come with your mind. It comes with your heart. When you only believe in things you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands, it is idolatry...
To have faith in Yahweh is to know that there is a realm of the spirit beyond the comprehension of our minds... Trusting in Molech... or trusting in your own wisdom and intellect - there's no difference in God's eyes. It's all idolatry.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“Belief in Yahweh doesn't come with your mind. It comes with your heart. When you only believe in things you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands, it is idolatry.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“When you only believe in things you can see with your eyes and touch with your hands, it is idolatry.” Zechariah’s words stunned him. “Then I’m an idolater, too?” “To have faith in Yahweh is to know that there is a realm of the spirit beyond the comprehension of our minds,” Zechariah said. “Trusting in Molech, as Ahaz did, or trusting in your own wisdom and intellect—there’s no difference in God’s eyes. It’s all idolatry.”
― Lynn Austin, quote from Gods and Kings
“As soon as you were born you were captured by fresh air that you screamed against the minute you came out. Then you were roped in by a factory, had a machine slung around your neck, and then you were hooked up by the arse with a wife.”
― Alan Sillitoe, quote from Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
“Then there was the bhaiyyani next door, who Santosh started fucking two days after she got her first period and has been fucking steadily for five years, with the threat: “If you don’t allow me to fuck you I’ll kill you.” He climbs into her window when her drunk father is away, or passed out, and rapes her. There is nothing gentle about sexuality in the slum; it is furtive and feral. Once, a group of boys was spying on a couple asleep near the door of their room; the man had a hand on one of his wife’s breasts. Santosh reached in through the opening for the letterbox and started squeezing the wife’s other breast; she slept on, thinking that her husband was squeezing both. When she felt the extra pressure on one, she woke up and screamed but was too afraid to tell her husband what had happened. Much of what a woman in the slum puts up with she endures silently, because, as Sunil points out, “How can she tell the world what has been done to her?” They go after women who are vulnerable: the very young, the children or wives of drunkards, or women not right in the head. When their men discover what’s being done to them, they too most often keep it quiet. Who would want the world to know? What does it say about their manliness, that they were unable to protect their women? I”
― Suketu Mehta, quote from Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found
“Losing innocence. Remembering Heaven. That was the essence of Hell”
― John Jakes, quote from Heaven and Hell
“Kaia tossed Strider a shut-your-mouth frown before bouncing in her seat. "Do I get to help? Can I? You may not know this, but I'm very handy with a blade of any kind, a hacksaw, a whip, a-"
"Hey! Someone went through my bag," William said.
"So?" Kaia continued, as if William hadn't spoken. "Whatever the weapon, I'm good with it."
He would not be impressed. "We won't be using weapons. We'll be smashing jugulars."
"Oh, oh! We can play Who Can Smash More!"
"No, we can't because you can't help," Stider said at the same time William blurted out, "I'd be disappointed if you didn't help.”
― Gena Showalter, quote from The Darkest Secret
“One day, we will sit together and remember how we changed things. We will remember the way things used to be, and teach our children to be better than us. The generations that follow will remember with us. In that day, we will all be free, I vowed.”
― Rachel Higginson, quote from Fearless Magic
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