Quotable

Just thought I'd share some quotes with you, dear readers.  These are some from two of my all-time favorite classics.  Odd combination, I know... Ah, well.

North & South

by Elizabeth Gaskell

"But the cloud never comes in that quarter of the horizon from which we watch for it."

". . . the future must be met, however stern and iron it be."

"I could wish there were a God, if it were only to ask Him to bless thee."

[Mr. Higgins]

"Don't be afraid, Bess.  God can give you more perfect rest than even idleness on earth, or the dead sleep of the grave can do."
[Margaret Hale]

"Loyalty and obedience to wisdom and justice are fine, but it is still finer to defy arbitrary power, unjustly and cruelly used -- not on behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of others more helpless."

[Margaret]

". . . What the master is, that will the men be, without ever-much taking thought on his part."

[Mr. Thornton]

Ben-Hur

by Lew Wallace

"What now, O Son of Hur?  Knowing so much, shall I dispute with myself or you about the necessaries -- about the form of my Soul? Or where it is to abide? Or whether it eats or drinks? Or is winged, or wears this or that?  No.  It is more becoming to trust in God.  The beautiful of this world is all from His hand, declaring the perfection of taste; He is the author of all form; He clothes the lily, He colours the rose, He distils the dewdrop, He makes the music of nature; in a word, He organised us for this life and imposed its conditions; and they are such guarantee to me that, trustful as a little child, I leave Him the organisation of my Soul, and ever arrangement for the life after death.  I know He loves me."

[Balthasar the Egyptian]

"A practical question presents itself -- How shall we know Him at sight?  If you continue in your belief as to His character -- that He is to be a king as Herod was -- of course you will keep on until you meet a man clothed in purple and with a sceptre.  On the other hand, He I look for will be one poor, humble, undistinguished -- a man in appearance as other men; and the sign by which I know Him will be never so simple.  He will offer to show to me and all mankind the way to eternal life; the beautiful pure Life of the Soul."

[Balthasar]

"A man drowning may be saved; not so a man in love."

[Simonides the Merchant]

". . . If thy faith but equal thy knowledge, He will hear thee though all the heavens thunder. . ."

[man on the road]

Blessings this coming weekend!