Michael David Lukas · 304 pages
Rating: (2.8K votes)
“She hadn't lied. She hadn't betrayed anyone's trust; still, she felt she had done something wrong. Or rather, she had not yet done the right thing. Was there a difference between these two sins?”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul
“With every choice, even the choice of inactivity, we must shut the door to a host of alternate futures. Each step we take along the path of fate represents a narrowing of potential, the death of a parallel world. The path of fate was more like a tunnel, and it was constricting about her with ever step she took.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul
“You are a very special child," the old handmaid said, stroking Eleonora's hair. "You know that don't you?"
Eleonora mumbled a yes.
"You know you are special, but I think that you aren't sure how."
She nodded. That was, indeed, the crux of it.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul
“A slippery fish, flashing scales in the water and a noble fighter on the line, but dull as lead at the bottom of the boat.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul
“This divergence of experience was not a stumbling block to conversation; indeed, it was what made the conversation interesting.”
― Michael David Lukas, quote from The Oracle of Stamboul
“Never believe a man who says God no longer does miracles, Ben. But never believe a man who says God must do a miracle the way a man wants him to. God is God.”
― Randy Alcorn, quote from Safely Home
“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.”
― Lori Foster, quote from Too Much Temptation
“Incapable of communicating himself to others, incapable of breaking out of his isolation, doomed to remain the mere actor of his life, the deputy of his own ego—all that any human being can know of another is a mere symbol, a symbol of an ego that remains beyond our grasp, possessing no more value than that of a symbol; and all that can be told is the symbol of a symbol, a symbol at a second, third, nth remove, asking for representation in the true double sense of the word.”
― Hermann Broch, quote from The Sleepwalkers
“There is a passion and drive for cruel deeds which only the awe and fear of God can soothe; there is a suffocating selfishness in man which only holiness can ventilate.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, quote from God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism
“Violence, and evil, doesn't always come dressed in black, and it doesn't always look like Charles Manson. Nor does it always come to us as obvious and arrogant[...]. Often it comes to us with the simple plea to be reasonable.”
― Derrick Jensen, quote from A Language Older Than Words
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