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"To understand is to forgive, but that is an error, so Papa used to say. You must forgive in order to understand."
"If you forgive, he would say, you may indeed still not understand, but you will be ready to understand, and that is the posture of grace."
"Humanly speaking, there is that trouble, that sorrow, and a Father has to be aware of it. He can’t help it. So there is a sadness even in great blessing, which can be a hard thing to understand."
"When I think what it is that brings us to our Father, it might be grief or sickness—trouble of some sort. Weariness. And then there we are, and it’s a good thing at such times to know we have a Father, whose joy it is to welcome us home."
"Every Sunday when the boys were home her father would stand at the front of the church, waiting for the pews to fill. Then his head would fall to one side, regret and forgiveness in one gesture."
"The past was a very fine thing, in its place. But her returning now, to stay, as her father said, had turned memory portentous."
"There is something disturbingly like hypocrisy about it all, though it was meant only to compensate for Jack, who was so conspicuously not good as to cast a shadow over their household."
"The garden gave her a perfectly good reason not to be anywhere else, not to do anything else. And it always needed more time than she could give it."
"It was as if she had spent the years preparing herself to know him when she saw him, and here he was, tense and wary, reminding her less of himself than of those nameless strangers."
"The thought that he listened, that he remained upstairs while his father was asleep, while it was only she who came and went and swept and dusted, played the radio—softly, of course—in short, the thought that he avoided her, was more than an irritation."
"That old orderliness, aloof from all disruption. Sabbath and Sabbath and Sabbath."
"Her father’s arrangements were no business of hers, and the cash drawer would overflow if she didn’t put the excess somewhere else."
"That he had given it to her—well, he always did act as though the house was not quite his, nor the family, for that matter."
"There is so much more to courtesy than Thank you, That’s kind of you!"
"A stray, she thought, learning the terms of domestication. Testing the comforts, weighing the costs."
"The damage is done. The Lord will use the information as he sees fit, come Judgment."
"It is possible to know the great truths without feeling the truth of them. That’s where the problem lies. In my case."
"I think I like your soul the way it is."
"It is art that keeps the demons at bay!"
"Remember also thy creator in the days of thy youth."
"Love is what it amounts to, a loftier love, and pleasure in a loving presence."
"No, but think about it now. You were always running off somewhere. Always hiding somewhere."
"You were off at the post office anyway. But that is a thing I don’t understand. A man with three fine brothers doesn’t have to deal with the world on his own, like some kind of lone wolf."
"These gray hairs. This battered visage. These frayed cuffs. I’ve had to admit that I’m not a very good liar, Glory."
"I’m sorry! Why did I say that? Why don’t I just stop talking? Why don’t you tell me to stop?"
"A person could end up with the cops at his door."
"The old man muttered and stared, his eyes flickering over the memory of the kindnesses he had done Ames through all those years."
"He helped Ames think through whatever question might have arisen among the Congregationalists."
"My life is endless pain and difficulty for reasons that are no doubt apparent to anyone I pass on the street but obscure to me."
"I have learned, in the tedious course of my life, that it is safer not to presume on these courtesies."
"It is the desire of the tattered moth for the shining star that has brought me home."
"I’m feeling useful. Productive. That’s good for morale."
"You get used to kindness. After a while you begin to count on it."
"I have thought this over pretty carefully. Either my manly pride insists that I confront him, which even I would not descend to."
"If Jesus is—Jesus, it seems as though he might have shown someone his chains."
"Forgiving him was deeper even than habit, since it was in fact the sum and substance of loyalty."
"Grace was never singular in its effects."
"The grace of God can find out any soul, anywhere."
"The best way to keep out of trouble would be to make myself useful."
"We are all sinners and we owe each other pardon and grace."
"The way people understand their religion is an accident of birth, generally speaking."
"I'm afraid that is the most difficult aspect of the question."
"Children suffer when their fathers aren't good men."
"There is the Providence of God that we look after those nearest to us."
"I wished you'd come over to my house. My baby's got something the matter with her."
"I have thought so often of when you were boys, and sometimes people would ask if you were twins."
"I wish things could have been better between us all these years. I do. There’s a lot I regret."
"Nobody deserves anything, good or bad. It’s all grace."
"It is what you can't get rid of. Insult, deprivation, outright violence - 'If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there,' and so on."
"That's fine, dear. Have we talked before? I don't believe so. I may be wrong."
"I’ve made an effort, for a number of reasons. To believe in something."
"So I’m going to stay here for another two weeks, and then you’ll be rid of me."
"I believe I was drunk for the next three years."
"I never forget them. Hard as I try. They’re my life."