"One was so awed that he advised the young to stay away because 'it is not well to dull one's capacity for enjoyment by seeing the finest first.'" (Keith Wheeler, The Alaskans, p. 6)
"The undertaker cleared his throat. It sounded loud after the utter silence. No, he said. She was injured severely in the face. It's a closed-casket service. . . . He took the pistol out of his waistband. No it's not, he said." (The Best American Short Stories of 2007, p. 125)
"It was quiet in the room. After a while the man behind the desk lowered his hands and folded them in his lap. Mr Ballard, he said. You are either going to have to find some other way to live or some other place in the world to do it in." (Child of God by Cormac McCarthy, p. 123)
"For what is more absurd or meaningless than for God to look down from on high to see whence salvation was to come to mankind!" (Calvin's Institutes, p. 939)
"A further observation of great importance is that work was given to man before the fall, before sin, before imperfection. . . . From this we come to the inescapable conclusion that work is good, despite the modern thinking that it is evil and dehumanizing." (Kent Hughs, Disciplines of a Godly Man, p. 141)
"And the reality is, if we had won that game it likely would have lived in my memories as just another victory among many others. Instead, it was the worst day of my life." (Fran Tarkenton, Every Day is Game Day, p. 2)
"The answer is that there is no book of laws or rules that God consults to know what is right. He wrote the book. What we find therefore in the Old Testament and in Paul is that God defines 'right' in terms of himself. There is no other standard to consult than his own infinitely worthy being. Thus, what is right, most ultimately, is what upholds the value and honor of God - what esteems and honors God's glory." (John Piper, The Future of Justification, p. 64)
"They are saying, perhaps ignorantly, that they prefer increased state control over their personal decisions because having a cap on success is an appropriate price to pay for also having a cap on failure." (Glenn Beck's Common Sense, p. 44)
"I once did not imagine that the heart of man had been so unsearchable as it is. I am less charitable, and less uncharitable than once I was. I find more things in wicked men that may counterfeit and make a fair show of piety; and more ways that the remaining corruption of the godly may make them appear like carnal men than once I knew of." (Jonathan Edwards, quoted by Iain Murray, Heroes, p. 31)
"Unfortunately, sometimes our value for community life can become a substitute for relationship with God. Psychology professor Richard Beck says that for some churches spirituality is equated with sociability. The mark of a progressing faith is familiarity with a growing number of people and participation in an increasing number of activities." (Adam McHugh, Introverts in the Church, p. 20)
"This experience has been checked off the list. It isn't just that it's over, but also because it no longer belongs to the exclusive realm of imagination, and to be quite honest, I think my imagination will miss it." (The Best American Travel Writing 2009, p. 183)
"I am glad the holiday season is nearing its close. I always find it demoralising. . . . By natural temperament, I am a born recluse and unsociable, and since I was born again, I have shrunk from spending God's time in idle recreations." (Arthur Pink, quoted by Iain Murray, The Life of Arthur W. Pink, p. 50)
"Our Masonic defendant in court might bury his head in his hands at some point and cry, 'Oh Lord my God, is there no help for the widow's son?' Although that might sound a bit odd to the average listener, it could be understood as a cry of anguish. If a Masonic judge or juror heard it, they would be honor bound (by a blood oath) to acquit such a person, or at least fight for a hung jury!" (Wm Schnoebelen, Masonry, p. 128)
"If I may indulge in moralizing, let me say that any fool can be a skeptic. Cynicism and skepticism are the crudest forms of quasi-intellectualism. The skeptic assumes an Olympian posture above the realm of lesser mortals. He remains 'above' the agonizing pursuit of truth, content to be regarded as superior to the fray. Let the cynic become cynical about his cynicism and the skeptic skeptical of his skepticism and join the battle." (R.C. Sproul, Not a Chance, p. 113)
"He looked into those blue eyes like a man seeking some vision of the increate future of the universe. He'd hardly breath to speak at all and he told her that she was very beautiful and she smiled and in her eyes was the sadness he'd first seen the night she came to his room and he knew that while he was contained in that sadness he was not the whole of it." (All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, p. 249)
"The squatters in their rags nodded among themselves and were soon reckoning him correct, this man of learning, in all his speculations, and this the judge encouraged until they were right proselytes of the new order whereupon he laughed at them for fools." (Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, p. 116)
"When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch." (John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley, opening line)
"Someone may fear that we are magnifying private religion out of all proportion, that the 'us' of the New Testament is being displaced by the selfish 'I.' Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life." (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p. 96)
"And in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Children of the living God.'" (Hosea 1:10, ESV Study Bible, p. 1624)
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