Five Quotes, vol. xv

I took my copy of The Little Prince to Saint Exupery's

memorial at the Pantheon in February.  I love that being a 

novelist makes him a "romancier" in French.

"How we love determines how we live," he thought.

- Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, James Runcie

"Sidney was tired, but contented, after the exertions of Christmas and was on the train to London.  He had seen the festival season through with a careful balance of geniality and theology and he was looking forward to a few days off with his family and friends."

- Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, James Runcie

"He decided to unwind by reading some poetry and picked out a volume of George Herbert from his bookshelf.  He began to read from 'The Temple', a poem in which Father Time pays the narrator a visit.

In the poem, the old man's scythe is dull and his role in human life has changed.  Since the coming of Christ, and the promise of eternal life, he is no longer an executioner but a gardener:

                                An usher to convey our souls

                                Beyond the utmost starres and poles

Sidney remembered how strikingly original the poem was.  For George Herbert, the time we spend on earth is not all too brief and transient but too long:  because it detains human beings from a life outside time and with God."

- Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, James Runcie

"Oh! He would have thee daily more free,

Knowing the might of thy royal degree,

Ever in waiting, glad for His call,

Tranquil in chastening, trusting through all.

Comings and goings no turmoil need bring;

His, all the future:  do the next thing."

- from the poem, Do the Next Thing by Mrs. George A. Paull, quoted in The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman

"The story arc can be one of hope even though each part of the story may have had its share of hopelessness.  The story arc can be one of faith even though the characters may have shaken fists and asked hard questions and yelled at the top of their lungs.  The story arc is joyful even when the people are broken." 

- The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman