The Stranger in the Lifeboat Quotes

“When someone passes, Benjamin, people always ask, ‘Why did God take them?’ A better question would be ‘Why did God give them to us?’ What did we do to deserve their love, their joy, the sweet moments we shared? Didn’t you have such moments with Annabelle?” “Every day,” I rasped. “Those moments are a gift. But their end is not a punishment. I am never cruel, Benjamin. I know you before you are born. I know you after you die. My plans for you are not defined by this world. “Beginnings and endings are earthly ideas. I go on. And because I go on, you go on with me. Feeling loss is part of why you are on Earth. Through it, you appreciate the brief gift of human existence, and you learn to cherish the world I created for you. But the human form is not permanent. It was never meant to be. That gift belongs to the soul. “I know the tears you shed, Benjamin. When people leave this Earth, their loved ones always weep.” She smiled. “But I promise you, those who leave do not.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“He [the Lord] squinted against the sun.

'Worry is something you create.'

'Why would we create worry?' [Nina]

'To fill a void.'

'A void of what?'

'Faith.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Maybe laughter after someone dies is the way we tell ourselves that they are still alive in some way. Or that we are.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“Beginnings and endings are earthly ideas. I go on. And because I go on, you go on with me. Feeling loss is part of why you are on Earth. Through it, you appreciate the brief gift of human existence, and you learn to cherish the world I created for you. But the human form is not permanent. It was never meant to be. That gift belongs to the soul. “I know the tears you shed, Benjamin. When people leave this Earth, their loved ones always weep.” She smiled. “But I promise you, those who leave do not.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“This world can be a trying place, Inspector. Sometimes you have to shed who you were to live who you are.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“Despair has its own voice. It is a prayer unlike any other.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Rum Rosh. It's in Psalms, the original Hebrew. It means 'God lifted my head”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“...the stories we tell ourselves long enough become our truths.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“It has always been a mystery to me ... how beauty and anguish can share the same moment”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“The distance between death and life is not as great as you imagine.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“The distance between death and life is not as great as you imagine.” “Really?” Yannis turned his way. “Then why don’t people come back to Earth after they die?” The stranger smiled. “Why would they want to?”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“Feeling loss is part of why you are on Earth. Through it, you appreciate the brief gift of human existence, and you learn to cherish the world I created for you.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Why was he so quiet?"

"To see if you would listen”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Still, I never considered what I would do if I called for the Lord and He actually appeared before me.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“The possibilities of another person. Is there any anticipation on this earth quite like that one? Is there anything lonelier than being without it?”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“God -starts- things,' he [the Lord] said. 'Man stops them.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“I don't need company,' I [Benjamin Kierney] said. 'I'm just thinking about things.'

'Your fate,' the Lord said.

'Something like that.'

'Perhaps I can help.'

I actually laughed. 'Why? If I were God, I would have given up on me long ago.'

'But you are not,' he said, 'and I never will.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Survive until tomorrow”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“In the end, there is the sea and the land and the news that happens between them. To spread that news, we tell each other stories. Sometimes the stories are about survival. And sometimes those stories, like the presence of the Lord, are hard to believe. Unless believing is what makes them true.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“Did you know a crab will escape its shell thirty times before it dies? ... This world can be a trying place ... Sometimes you have to shed who you were to live who you are”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Survive this voyage. And once you do, find another soul in despair.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Forgive yourself ... Then use this grace to spread my spirit”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“When someone passes ... people always ask, 'Why would God take them?' A better question would be 'Why did God give them to us?' What did we do to deserve their love, their joy, the sweet moments we shared? ... Those moments are a gift. But their end is not a punishment ... My plans for you are not defined by this world ... Beginnings and endings are earthly ideas. I go on. And because I go on, you go on with me. Feeling loss is part of why you are on Earth. Through it, you appreciate the brief gift of human existence, and you learn to cherish the world I created for you. But the human form is not permanent. It was never meant to be. That gift belongs to the soul.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Worry is something you create ... to fill a void [of] faith”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“The explosion had come during a dinner party, and the sight of most of us in dress clothes, now soaked and ripped as we huddled inside a raft, was a grim reminder of how little the natural world cares for our plans.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Worry is something you create."
"Why would we create worry?"
"To fill a void."
"A void of what?"
"Faith.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“Worry is something you create.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel

“...sometimes those stories, like the presence of the Lord, are hard to believe. Unless believing is what makes them true.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“The power of misery is its long shadow. It darkens everything within view.”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat

“What did you expect the Lord to look like? Don’t we always say, ‘If only we could see God, we would know he was real’? What if He has finally given us a chance to see Him? Is it still not enough?”
― Mitch Albom, The Stranger in the Lifeboat: A Novel