Favorite lines from books

[CharlieGrown]

...God was planning a cook-out and all of civilization was going to be the barbecue.

-Stephen King, The Stand

I have a lot of favorites from that book, the characterization is amazing. I read it before I was saved.
“For God's sake, Larry, grow up. Develop a little self-righteousness. A lot of that is an ugly thing, God knows, but a little spread over all your scruples is an absolute necessity!”

 

[PrynceNY]

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
- André Gide, Autumn Leaves

 

[SunsSunny]

Gonna obviously quote from the wonderful word of God
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
**Philippians‬ *4:6-7‬
"knowledge makes arrogant but love edifies" 1 Corinthians 8:1
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
**1 John‬ *4:8‬ *

But I feel as if we were supposed to quote from other books so from my favorite book ,

"Great God, how great a difference there is between a gift from a lover to a beloved through a mediary and a gift that is between two lovers without a mediary!"
"And as I understand nothing of my wretchedness, compared to what it is in itself, so I understand nothing of your goodness, compared to what it is in itself. And as little as I understand, Lord, of your goodness, it gives me what understanding I have of my wretchedness. And as little, Lord, as I understand of my wretchedness, it gives me what understanding I have of your goodness."
"for He alone is my God, about whom one does not know how to say a word. Not even all those in paradise know how to attain a single point, however much understanding they might possess of Him."

mirror of simple souls- marguerite porete

 

[laura_charlotte]

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.
- André Gide, Autumn Leaves

Love it! One of my life motto's inspired by 'the chameleon people' from Alexandra Elle:

When people show you their true colours don't get mad, paint a beautiful mural of life lessons and keep marching forward.

The understanding and perspective this provides when dealing with the enemy, can equip any christian in their battle with darkness in life's awesome journey.

 

[zeroturbulence]

“I'm moving and not moving at all. I'm like the moon underneath the waves that ever go on rolling and rocking. It is not, "I am doing this," but rather, an inner realization that "this is happening through me," or "it is doing this for me." The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action.”
― Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Bet u guys didn't know Bruce Lee was that deep.. I actually did read this book many eons ago when i was interested in martial arts. It's really a compilation of his notes and drawings rather than a written book.

 

[wwjd_kilden]

[Someone reading a letter]
Anyway, that writing's like a spider half-drunk getting out of an ink-pot
- Maeve Bincy, Light a Penny Candle

 

[Willie-T]

“There is a way of living life, a mode of being religious that causes destruction wherever it appears. It is the misinterpretation of the concept of holiness. It was certainly an issue in Jesus’ day. The variety of the ‘Judaisms’ of Jesus’ day, the various schools or parties, the rabbinic schools of Hillel and Shammai . . . the Essenes . . . apocalyptic sects, mainstream elite like the Sadducees and marginalized Samaritans alike all held to some kind of holiness code, that behavior which made the people right before God.

The Temple itself reflected gradations or strata of holiness, from the outer Court of the Gentiles to the Holy of Holies. This meta-map of the Temple was overlaid on Jewish society as well. Just as there were degrees of holy space in the Temple, so also in society various persons had various degrees of holiness . . . It was a hierarchical model, lived out by every group or party except one, that of Jesus.

Yet, oddly enough we do not find this holiness language in Jesus’ teaching. Unlike the constant refrain of holiness in the Dead Sea Scrolls or the later Mishnah, Jesus has another set of lyrics using the same melody. Instead of “Be holy as I am holy” Jesus taught “Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Mercy was for Jesus what holiness was to many of his contemporaries. Notice the same form is used but the substance has changed. Why is this? Because for Jesus, holiness was not a solution but a problem. Holiness caused ostracizing and exclusion; mercy brought reconciliation and re-socialization. Holiness depended on gradation and hierarchy; mercy broke through all barriers. Holiness differentiated persons based upon honor, wealth, family tree, religious affiliation; mercy recognized that God honors all, loves all and blesses all.”

― Michael Hardin, The Jesus Driven Life: Reconnecting Humanity With Jesus, 2nd Edition

 

[Lynx]

For myself, there is only one quote (aside from quotes from the Bible) that I deem worth posting here. It is from Sherlock Holmes: The Naval Treaty.

“What a lovely thing a rose is!"

He walked past the couch to the open window and held up the drooping stalk of a moss-rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.

"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”

 

[Lynx]

There is this one book series called Starwolves that has some good quotes... To avoid a lengthy explanation of the plot I'll just put the person's role instead of names.

"Perhaps it is time your people had a land of their own."

"People of many races can as easily live in any land, even with others."

"Yes. But the one thing they all share is that at one time they all came from the same place. Your people are the exception. Perhaps it is time for them to have a place of their own. Not a place for you to stand apart from the rest of the world, but to have that one place where you can all stand together."





"Our spy said she found something that could be the end of civilization as we know it. What could cause that?"

"That depends on how you define civilization" his friend explained in a scholarly tone. "You define civilization as one thing and your enemies as another. To truly understand that question you must first ask yourself what your enemy believes civilization means to you, and then how he would attempt to destroy your concept of civilization."

"I doubt very much that the enemy commander entertains any thoughts of defeating me with philosophy" said the commander. "He believes in things that go BANG!"

"Yes, there is that."





(The spy made a big explosion on the enemy base as a distraction so the commander could sneak in. Commander is trying to find the spy by asking the spy's robot where she is.)

"Robot would you take us to where you would expect to find the spy?"

"I think that she is dead" the sentry bot replied without hesitation. "I would not know where to look."

"Heaven or hell, take your pick" quipped one of the pilots. "I know where I would look first."

 

[posthuman]

from Kafka's Conversation With the Supplicant

I was somewhat disconcerted when he said,
​

"I'm thankful to say that I don't understand what you've been talking about." ​

With annoyance I answered quickly.
​

"Your saying that you're thankful shows that you do know what I was talking about." ​

 

[Tinkerbell725]

In The Book of Hours (1905), Rilke wrote:

"I live my life in growing orbits
which move out over the things of the world
Perhaps I can never achieve the last,
but that will be my attempt.

I am circling around God, for around the ancient tower,
and I have been circling for a thousand years,
and still I don't know if I'm a falcon, a storm,
or an unfinished song."

 

[wwjd_kilden]

“Limerick gained a reputation for piety, but we knew it was only the rain.”
[People going inside the church to get out of the rain]
- Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes

(Great book by the way, recommended)

 

[Adrift]

I love this thread idea! There are so many good books, it is hard to think of which lines to share, and I always have trouble remembering them exactly.

Here is some that I really like from "The Wise Woman" by George MacDonald:
"As she grew up, everybody about her did his best to convince her that she was somebody...and the worst of it was that the princess never thought of there being more than one Somebody-that was herself."
"Of course, as she grew, she grew worse; for she never tried to grow better."
"People are so ready to think themselves changed when it is only their mood that is changed!"

 

[Galatea]

There are so many, it is hard for me to choose one. I guess one that I always loved since reading Wuthering Heights was this:

"I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it.—My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk of our separation again: it is impracticable"

I am one of those weird people who likes Heathcliff.

 

[jennymae]

Lol, there's this passage in "To Kill A Mockingbird" I really like, even though it is maybe of no great importance, but I'm laughing out loud whenever I'm thinking of it.

It goes like this:

"That was the summer Dill came to us. Early one morning as we were beginning our day's play in the backyard, Jem and I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford's collard patch. We went to the wire fence to see if there was a puppy - Miss Ratchel's rat terrier was expecting - instead we found someone sitting looking at us. Sitting down, he wasn't much higher than the collards. We stared at him until he spoke:
'Hey.'
'Hey yourself,' said Jem pleasantly.
'I'm Charles Baker Harris,' he said. ' I can read.'
'So what?' I said.
'I just thought you'd like to know I can read. You got anything needs readin' I can do it...'
'How old are you,' asked Jem, 'four-and-a-half?'
'Goin' on seven.'
'Shoot no wonder, then,' said Jem, jerking his thumb at me. 'Scout yonder's been readin' ever since she was born, and she ain't even started to school yet. You look right puny for goin' on seven.'
'I'm little but I'm old,' he said.
Jem brushed his hair back to get a better look. 'Why don't you come over, Charles Baker Harris?' he said.
'Lord, what a name.'
'`s not any funnier'n yours. Aunt Rachel says your name's Jeremy Atticus Finch.'
Jem scowled. 'I'm big enough to fit mine,' he said. 'Your name's longer'n you are. Bet it's a foot longer."

 

[JosephsDreams]

BY WALT WHITMAN

I sing the body electric,
The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,

They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,

And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.

 

[Tinuviel]

I am reading The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis. This is by far my favourite Narnia book and this is one of my favourite quotes from it because it so beautifully illustrates the providence of God--even in the "bad" things.

Shasta told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman. and then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the Tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since had had anything to eat. “I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice.
“Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” said Shasta.
“There was only one lion.” said the Voice.
“What on earth do you mean? I’ve just told you there were at least two lions the first night, and -”
“There was only one, but he was swift of foot.”

“How do you know?”
“I was the lion.”

And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comfroted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you as you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

“Then it was you who wounded Aravis?”

“It was I.”
“But what for?”
“Child,” said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.”

 

[EmilyNats]

I am reading The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis. This is by far my favourite Narnia book and this is one of my favourite quotes from it because it so beautifully illustrates the providence of God--even in the "bad" things.

Shasta told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman. and then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the Tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since had had anything to eat. “I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice.
“Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” said Shasta.
“There was only one lion.” said the Voice.
“What on earth do you mean? I’ve just told you there were at least two lions the first night, and -”
“There was only one, but he was swift of foot.”

“How do you know?”
“I was the lion.”

And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. “I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comfroted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you as you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

“Then it was you who wounded Aravis?”

“It was I.”
“But what for?”
“Child,” said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.”

I saw "I was the Lion" and I immediately thought, "Oooh I know that book!"

 

[Tinuviel]

I saw "I was the Lion" and I immediately thought, "Oooh I know that book!"

Great book(s)