Quotes from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“...for human words are like shadows, and shadows are incapable of explaining light and between shadow and light there is the opaque body from which words are born..”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Unlike Joseph her husband, Mary is neither upright nor pious, but she is not blame for this, the blame lies with the language she speaks if not with the men who invented it, because that language has no feminine form for the words upright and pious.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Yet human experience and the practice of communication have shown throughout the ages that definitions are an illusion, like having a speech defect and trying to say love but unable to get the word out, or, better, having a tongue in one's head but unable to feel love.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“The time for miracles has either passed or not come yet, besides, miracles, genuine miracles, whatever people say, are not such a good idea, if it means destroying the very order of things in order to improve them.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“..."o Bem e o Mal não existem em si mesmos, cada um deles é somente a ausência do outro.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“كان الرب قد أخبر يسوع ستكون لي في دمك منذ الآن، أما الشيطان، إن كان ذلك هو، فقد رفضه بازدراء، لم تتعلم شيئاً، فاغرب عني، ومريم المجدلية التي يجري العرق من أسفل نهديها، وجدائلها المتراخية يتعالى منها البخور، شفتاها منتفختان، وعيناها مثل بحيرتين داكنتين، قالت له، لن تمكث معي بسبب ما علمتك أياه، ولكن إمض الليلة هنا. وأجابها يسوع وهو يعلوها، ما تعلميني إياه ليس سجناً بل هو الحرية”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“God will save you.
Surely you're forgetting that God saves souls rather than bodies.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“The sun appears in one of the upper corners of the rectangle, on the left of anyone looking at the picture.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“The angel told her, An honest man who committed a crime, you have no idea how many honest men have committed crimes, their crimes are countless, and contrary to popular belief these are the only crimes that cannot be forgiven.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“It just isn't possible for you to ask me all the questions, or for me to give you all the answers.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Are dreams perhaps the soul’s memories of the body,”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Morrerão milhares, Morrerão centenas de milhares, Morrerão centenas de milhares de homens e mulheres, a terra encher-se-á de gritos de dor, de uivos e roncos de agonia, o fumo dos queimados cobrirá o sol, a gordura deles rechinará sobre as brasas, o cheiro agoniará, e tudo isto será por minha culpa, Não por tua culpa, por tua causa, Pai, afasta de mim este cálice, Que tu o bebas é a condição do meu poder e da tua glória, Não quero esta glória, Mas eu quero esse poder.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Olharei a tua sombra se não quiseres que te olhe a ti, disse-lhe, e ele respondeu, Quero estar onde minha sombra estiver, se lá é que estiverem os teus olhos. Amavam-se e diziam palavras como estas, não apenas por serem belas ou verdadeiras, se é possível ser-se o mesmo ao mesmo tempo, mas porque pressentiam que o tempo das sombras estava chegando na sua hora, e era preciso que começassem a acostumar-se, ainda juntos, à escuridão da ausência definitiva.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“God does not forgive the sins He makes us commit.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Então Jesus compreendeu que viera trazido ao engano como se leva o cordeiro ao sacrifício, que a sua vida fora traçada para morrer assim desde o princípio dos princípios, e, subindo-lhe à lembrança o rio de sangue e de sofrimento que do seu lado irá nascer e alagar toda a terra, clamou para o céu aberto onde Deus sorria, Homens, perdoai-lhe, porque ele não sabe o que fez.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“لماذا انقذ الرب اسحاق ولم يفعل شيئا لحماية الأطفال المساكين الذين كانوا ابرياء كطفل
ابراهيم ؟”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Somewhere in the infinite that He occupies, God advances and withdraws the pawns of the other games He plays, but it is too soon to worry about this one, all He need do for the present is allow things to take their natural course, apart from the occasional adjustment with the tip of His little finger to make sure some stray thought or action does not interfere with the harmony of destinies.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“[...] todos nós, onde quer que estejamos e quem quer que sejamos, não fazemos mais na vida do que procurar o lugar onde iremos ficar para sempre.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Η μοίρα του καθενός είναι να βρίσκεται η μοίρα του στα χέρια των άλλων.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“The instant is gone, time has carried us into the realm of memory, it was like this, no, it was not, and everything becomes what we choose to invent.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“O artesão no seu trabalho não deve levantar-se ante o maior doutor, podemos imaginar com que orgulho profissional começava José a instruir os seus filhos mais velhos, um após outro, à medida que chegavam à idade, primeiro Jesus, depois Tiago, depois José, depois Judas, nos segredos e tradições da arte carpinteira, atento ele, também, à antiga sentença popular que assim reza, O trabalho do menino é pouco, mas quem o desdenha é louco, foi o que veio a chamar-se trabalho infantil.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Jesus wiped his tears on the back of his hand, blew his nose, who knows where, and yes, there is no point spending the whole day here, the desert is what it is, it surrounds us, in some ways protects us, but when it comes to giving, it gives us nothing, it simply looks on, and when the sun suddenly clouds over, so that we find ourselves thinking, The sky mirrors our sorrow, we are being foolish, because the sky is quite impartial and neither rejoices in our happiness nor is cast down by our grief.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“But why sacrifice Your own son’s life for so little, surely all You have to do is send a prophet. The time when people listened to prophets has passed, nowadays one must administer stronger medicine, shock treatment, to touch men’s hearts and stir their feelings. Such as a son of God hanging from a cross. Yes, why not.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“ღმერთი კვლავ დუმდა, ხოლო ნისლიდან ხმა მოისმა: ეგება ეს ღმერთი და ის მეორე, მისი მეტოქე რომ გახდება, - უბრალოდ ჰეტერონიმები არიან. და ვინ ან რაა, ვის ჰეტერონიმებადაც ეს ღმერთები მოიაზრებიან? - ცნობისწადილით დასვა შეკითხვა მეორე ხმამ. პესოა, უპასუხა პირველმა ხმამ და სიტყვა ნისლისგან სახეცვლილი, ისე გაისმა, როგორც პერსონა. იესომ, ღმერთმა და ეშმაკმა ჯერ თავი მოიკატუნეს, აქაოდა, არაფერი გაგვიგონიაო, მაგრამ წამსვე შეშინებულებმა გადახედეს ერთმანეთს, რამეთუ შიშს ასეთი თვისება აქვს - აახლოებს და აერთიანებს.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“That night there was no conversation, no prayers or stories around the fire, as if the proximity of Jerusalem demanded respectful silence, each man searching his heart and asking, Who is this person who resembles me yet whom I fail to recognize. This is not what they actually said, for people do not start talking to themselves like that, nor was this even in their conscious thoughts, but there can be no doubt that as we sit staring into the flames of a camp fire, our silence can be expressed only with words like these, which say everything.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“Deus é tanto mais Deus quanto mais inacessível for.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“São coisas que não se sabem explicar, como, sendo as pessoas feitas das mesmas humaníssimas matérias, esta carne, estes ossos, este sangue, esta pele e este riso, este suor e esta lágrima, vemos que saem uns cobardes e outros sem medo, uns de guerra e outros de paz.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

“The will of God, the creator and ruler of the universe, embraces all possible wills, His own as well as that of every man born into this world. If this is so, intervened Jesus with sudden insight, then each man is a part of God.”
― José Saramago, quote from The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

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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.