In the Company of Others Quotes

“In Ireland there’s no such thing as bad weather ~~~ only the wrong clothes.”
― Jan Karon , In the Company of Others

“Everywhere I have sought rest and not found it, except sitting in a corner by myself with a book.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“He eyed in the far corner of the room the carton of books they'd schlepped across the pond(ocean) They were both fearful of being stuck without a decent book, and who knew they would find everything from Virgil to Synge on the shelves of a fishing lodge?”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“I learned over a long period of trial and error to see in him what God made him to be. Wounded people use a lot of smoke and mirrors, they thrust the bitterness and rage out there like a shield. Then it becomes their banner, and finally, their weapon. But I stopped falling for the bitterness and rage. I didn’t stop knowing it was there—and there for a very good reason—but I stopped taking the bullet for it. With God’s help, I was able to start seeing through the smoke.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“The waters hold all heaven within their heart.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“...but I tell you now that it's not too late---no matter how deep the wound. (Regarding forgiveness)”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“One must begin somewhere, sometime, to let go of the bitterness, or be eaten alive and the marrow sucked out.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“t is a lonely washin’ that hasn’t a man’s shirt in it.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“She lay quiet, looking at the ceiling. 'I wish the peace to come back,' she said.

'He himself is the peace. He comes if we invite him, and stays, if we ask. It's ourselves who wander away.'

'Why do we wander away?'

'Its the old free-will business—we're charmed by the self, by our own pointless self-seeking.'

'What does he want from us?'

'He wants us to ask him into our lives, to give everything over to him, once and for all.'

'I can't imagine.'

'I couldn't either. I heard it preached and talked about all my life. I exegeted Romans and memorized vast amounts of scripture before I was twelve years old, but somehow it went in one ear and out the other—I got the bone, but not the marrow. Long after becoming a priest, I remained terrified of surrendering anything, much less everything. And then one day I did.'

'Why?'

'Because I could no longer bear the separation from him.'

She licked her dry lips. 'You said there would be nothing to lose.'

'And everything to gain.'

'I don't wish to be humiliated.'

'By God?' He took the lid from the balm and moistened the swab.

'By anyone, and especially God.'

'God does not humiliate the righteous. He may fire us in the kiln to make us vessels, crush us like grapes so we become wine—but he never humiliates. That is the game of little people.'

'I have always depended on my own resources.'

'God gives us everything, including resources. But without him in our lives, even our resources fail.' He applied the balm.

'Tell me again why the peace comes—and then goes away.'

'His job is to stick with us, no matter what, and it's our job to stay close to him. Draw nigh to me, he says, and I will draw nigh to you. When we wander away, all we need to do is cry out to him, and he draws us back—into his peace, his love, his grace. He doesn't wander, we do.'

'Why must it come to this? Why must our lives be shackled to some so-called being who can't even be seen?'

'But he can be seen. We see him in each other every day. I see him in you.'

She closed her eyes, A long breath from her, as if she'd been holding it back.

'I've hurt many people,' she said

'Despair can be passed like a wafer to everyone around us, especially to those close to us. Into the bloodstream it goes, and down along the family line . . . .'

'Such an emptiness,' she said.

'Blaise Pascal . . . said, There's a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can't be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God, made know through Jesus Christ.'

'I don't wish to go on . . . without the peace . . . .'

It was his own surrender he saw in her.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“not”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread,
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout. He lay looking at her in the sheen of candlelight, realizing again that he was fond of the lines at the corners of her mouth. ‘Moth-like stars,’ he said. ‘Yes, go on.’ When I had laid it on the floor
I turned to blow the fire aflame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“...he pondered his unease. Dooley and Lace, unfinished. Evelyn, Liam, Paddy, unfinished. Bella totally unfinished. The whole Barret business, unfinished. He despised the unfinished, and yet all of life was continually under construction and he was continually at odds with that plan.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“Someone had said that in Ireland there’s no such thing as bad weather—only the wrong clothes.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“Thomas à Kempis: “Everywhere I have sought rest and not found it, except sitting in a corner by myself with a book.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“And so I enjoyed the warm feelings, the stuff of the heart, when it was present between us, as it sometimes was, even in the beginning. And when it wasn’t, there was the will to love him, something like . . . a generator kicking in, a backup.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others

“It’s not the sort of thing romantics wish to hear, but I found that in the end, love must be a kind of discipline. If we love only with our feelings, we’re sunk—we may feel love one day and something quite other the next. Soon after he came to live with me—he was eleven years old at the time—I realized I must learn to love with my will, not my feelings.”
― Jan Karon, In the Company of Others