79 Quotes by Charles Williams

There is no possible idea," Kenneth thought as he came onto the terrace, "to which the mind of man can't supply some damned alternative or other. Yet one must act.

It may be a movement towards becoming like little children to admit that we are generally nothing else.

The altar must be built in one place so that the fire may come down in another place.

Have you by any chance an edition of St. Ignatius's treatise against the Gnostics?" he asked in a low clear voice. The young assistant looked gravely back. "Not for sale, I'm afraid," he said. "Nor, if it comes to that, the Gnostic treatises against St. Ignatius." "Quite," Anthony answered.

The Church expected the Second Coming of Christ immediately. The converts had known a first coming. And then? And then! That was the trouble — the then. He had come, and they adored and believed, they communicated and practiced, and waited. The then lasted, and there seemed to be no farther equivalent Now. Time became the individual and catholic problem. The Church had to become as universal and as durable — as time.

I hope you still think that ideas are more dangerous than material thing," Quentin said. "That is what you were arguing at lunch."Anthony pondered while glancing from side to side before he answered, "Yes, I do. All material danger is limited, whereas interior danger is unlimited. It's more dangerous for you to hate than kill, isn't it?

But again He is equally present in sudden unexpected moments, and it is the neglect of these moments that is the most fruitful source of disbelief in Him.

[...] the war between good and evil existed no longer, for the thing beneath the Graal was not fighting but vomiting.

Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties come prepared to forgive, neither party come prepared to be forgiven.