The Power and the Glory

by Graham Greene

He was aware of an immense load of responsibility: it was indistinguishable from love. This, he thought, must be what all parents feel: ordinary men go through life like this crossing their fingers, praying against pain, afraid.

You do not always say good-bye to those you love beside a deathbed, in an atmosphere of leisure and incense.

If God had been like a toad, you could have rid the globe of toads, but when God was like yourself, it was no good being content with stone figures—you had to kill yourself among the graves.