The Fifth Gospel Quotes

“When God became human, He made Himself into an image. By His own incarnation, He shattered the prohibition against art.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“Life has taught this boy to string nets beneath his hopes.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“there’s reason to believe neither account reflects the facts. But the authors of both gospels—whoever those authors really were—believed Jesus was the Savior, so He must’ve been born in Bethlehem, as the Old Testament predicts.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“My old friend has gained weight. His shirt is wrinkled and his hair is too long. We clamp hands on each other and trade kisses on the cheek, holding on longer than we should, because as the distance has grown, so has the enthusiasm of our greetings. Someday we will be the greatest of strangers.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“People lie. People disagree. People make mistakes. To find out the truth, you have to know how to search for it.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“Deep in the marrow of our religion is the conviction that loss and sacrifice are noble. To surrender something is the highest proof of Christian duty.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“A Greek has twenty-five centuries of painful history to keep is dreams in check, but there's nothing more dangerous than to give an American hope.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“The darkest mistakes can be forgiven, but they can never be undone.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“Diego”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“wait for sleep. I wait, and wait. But I feel I’ve been waiting all my life. The gospels say Jesus prepared his followers for the Second Coming by speaking a parable. He compared himself to a master who leaves his estate in order to attend a marriage feast. We, his servants, don’t know when the master will return. So we have to wait by the door for him, with our lamps kept burning. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. I remind myself that if I have to wait a lifetime for my wife to return, it’s no longer than any other Christian has waited these past two thousand years. But the waiting, on nights like this, feels like an ache that rattles from an infinite emptiness.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“Slowly, though, I find that the woman coming to my aid is no longer the woman I married. Rather, she is the wife and mother who left behind husband and son, who lived for years in tortured solitude, and who stands before me now as a virtuoso of the self-recrimination I’m only beginning to learn. She is helping me because she loves me, because she knows this darkness and has its map. There is indeed no medicine. But there is a journey I no longer have to make alone.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“just need some time to think,” I say. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” I hesitate. “I’m sorry about tonight.” Before she can answer, I hang up. The ache that has been building for hours is now painful. When Simon and I used to feel this way after Mamma died, we would run cross-country and back. The hills. The steps. The shadows of the walls. We would run until we were buckled over, heaving on the ground, cooling ourselves in the overspray of the fountains. I close my eyes. Give him back to me, Lord. I need my brother. I”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“A Greek has twenty-five centuries of painful history to keep his dreams in check, but there’s nothing more dangerous than to give an American hope. The”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“What puzzles me most is the disappearance of the Diatessaron and where it might be now.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“Boia is trying to force Simon to talk. Nowak is trying to keep the exhibit a secret.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“bullies the light out of the room.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“a boy can’t imagine how hard he will find it, someday, to forgive his own enemies. Or his own loved ones. He has no inkling that good men can sometimes find it impossible to forgive themselves. The darkest mistakes can be forgiven, but they can never be undone.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“After Father died, she told me that it felt strange to have hands anymore, what with no one to hold them.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“The motto here is that a new door opens every time you push another man out a window.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“The Greek Orthodox bishops made a point of snubbing John Paul. He didn’t complain. They insulted him. He didn’t defend himself. They demanded he apologize for Catholic sins from centuries ago. And John Paul, speaking on behalf of one billion living souls and the untold Catholic dead, apologized.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“So this is how my friend died. Because I taught him how to read the gospels. And because he had the bravery to speak out about what they revealed.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“A death wish is not the same as a willingness to die.”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel

“A priest can forgive a stranger so quickly that a boy can’t imagine how hard he will find it, someday, to forgive his own enemies. Or his own loved ones. He has no inkling that good men can sometimes find it impossible to forgive themselves. The darkest mistakes can be forgiven, but they can never be undone. I hope my son will always remain a stranger to those sins”
― Ian Caldwell, The Fifth Gospel