The Lost History of Stars Quotes

“The table was filled with books and I discovered I could not keep my hands off them. Some had shiny covers with pictures from around the world. I most favored the ones that were weathered, as I imagined how many people had read them before me. I sensed their presence in the smell of the dusty pages.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“The lesson that came through this trek most intact was the one that Bina had taught me: deeds live. I learned that they not only lived but had to be carried.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“I saw how silly I had been in the early notes about people, back when I tried to capture their identity with a few words. We were all so many things that fit together and then sometimes came apart. When a part was taken away, the other things that remained had to change shape to fill the space, like water. And we couldn't know what parts were the most important until the others fell away.
As I went through the notes, I sensed I'd been hollowed out. The camp had made me see the order of the things that we surrender. What goes first? Consideration? Compassion? Friendship? And then it gets down to faith, or maybe it's family and then faith, or maybe even memories. It was only when everything was taken away that you got to see what was at your core. And if you could hold on to that, that singular meaning, you went on; if you couldn't, the collapse was complete.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“I opened my eyes and inhaled thick air. The idea of a vow seemed so out of place in our time. The first was so long ago it seemed like a biblical tale. I wondered if God would be interested in causes purchased with the promises of men he created to be flawed and weak in the first place.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“I could not check on the stars in the daylight. They could force me to live inside these fences, I supposed, but they would struggle to keep me from studying the stars.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“Maybe no one had yet created words to describe the kind of things seen in places like this.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“The act of writing gave them substance, and they occupied space, and that made them real. I decided I should always write as if pencil and paper and light were scarce. When each word is valuable, you spend them with care.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“I had reached the point where even I was bothered by all my questions. I hoped that someday my nature would allow me to just accept things as they happened, or spend less of my time sorting through the contents of my increasingly jumbled mind.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars

“She told me that you may stitch your wishes, but God has his own pattern for you,” Tante Hannah said. “When I started mine, she said I should create scenes I hoped would be God’s Providence. Lettie, someday you’ll want to make one of your own.” Her own sampler was on the wall of her bedroom. The scene was dominated by a low, red-roofed house with two children and two sheep in the yard, and a tree abundant with colorful fruit. It looked nothing like her life.”
― Dave Boling, The Lost History of Stars