ChrisH

“All of them. . . had seemed to live in a world where compassion was not necessary. He saw now that it the very first necessity, always and everywhere, and should flow between all men, always and everywhere. Men lived with their nearest and dearest and knew little of them, and strangers passing by in the street were as impersonal as trees walking, and all the while there was this deep affinity, for all men suffered.”
― Elizabeth Goudge, The Dean's Watch

“religion has always understood that directing human attention toward what is holy is supremely important. This is why medieval Christendom was filled with prayers, rituals, fasts, and feasts: to keep life, both public and private, ordered around things divine.10”
― Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation

“The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power forever.”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol: The Original 1843 Edition

“It came on me then how futile were our actions, if God chooses to interpose His will between us and our desires.”
― Emmuska Orczy, The Collected Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel: Omnibus Edition of Sir Percy's Adventures