620 Quotes by Marilynne Robinson

In that eternity of his, where everybody will be happy, how could he feel the lack of her, the loss of her?

If you thought dead was just dead, then you wouldn't have to worry about any of this.

The willingness to indulge in ideological thinking - that is, in thinking that by definition is not one's own, which is blind to experience and to the contradictions that arise when broader fields of knowledge are consulted - is a capitulation no one should ever make. It is a betrayal of our magnificent minds and of all the splendid resources our culture has prepared for their use.

So many of earth's grievances could be soothed by a little consideration.

When people feel they know who to blame or to snicker at, they seldom feel the need to know more.

She knew there were words so terrible you heard them with your whole body. Guilty. And there were voices to say them. She knew there were people you might almost trust who would hear them, too, and be amazed, and still not really hear them because they know they were not the ones the words were spoken to.

There's a pattern in these Commandments of setting things apart so their holiness will be perceived. Every day is holy, but the Sabbath is set apart so that the holiness of time can be experienced. Every human being is worthy of honor, but the conscious discipline of honor is learned from this setting apart of Mother and Father.

Things happen for reasons that are hidden from us, utterly hidden for us as long as we think they must proceed from what has come before, our guilt or our deserving, rather than coming to us from a future that God in his freedom offers to us.

Everything always bears looking into, astonishing as that fact is.