The Mission House Quotes

“Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Mormon, Zoroastrian, they were all the same as far as she could see. They all thought they were the best, and that God loved their lot more than any other lot. When she was making her slow, laborious way through Mr. Byrd's stories and their lessons, it often struck her how much the tales of frogs and princesses, of dark woods and talking mirrors, of spells and wishes and considerable suffering and occasional joy and people doing all kinds of ugly things to each other resembled the ones in the Bible.”
― Carys Davies, The Mission House

“He felt like himself, which is to say, he felt nervous and anxious and sometimes afraid, but also excited and elated and intermittently hopeful and optimistic.”
― Carys Davies, The Mission House

“Everywhere is peaceful until it isn't, Daddy," said Ada. "Just because you don't notice the cracks it doesn't mean they aren't there.”
― Carys Davies, The Mission House

“He knew the names of all the disciples, the stories of Cain and Abel and Noah; he knew the names of Noah's sons, the stories of Job, and Lazarus, and Lot’s wife, the flight to Egypt and the man born blind, the parables of the mustard seed and the talents. He knew about the Sea of Glass in the Book of Revelation; He could recite part of the Song of Solomon and the twenty-third Psalm. He would not fail, he was sure. He would make a convincing enough Christian.”
― Carys Davies, The Mission House

“He's been surprised many times in the course of his career to discover what sort of improbable things people are capable of, and if there's anything he knows for certain, it's that people are endlessly mysterious and unpredictable. They tell the truth and they lie; they are direct and they are devious; they are rational and they are irrational.”
― Carys Davies, The Mission House