Why had he committed this terrible sin? Everything in the world was insignificant compared to what he had lost. Everything in the world is insignificant compared to the truth and purity of one small man — even the empire stretching from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean, even science itself. Then he realized that it still wasn't too late. He still had the strength to lift up his head, to remain his mother's son. And he wasn't going to try to console himself or justify what he had done. He wanted this mean, cowardly act to stand all his life as a reproach; day and night it would be something to bring him back to himself. No, no, no! He didn't want to strive to be a hero — and then preen himself over his courage. Every hour, every day, year in, year out, he must struggle to be a man, struggle for his right to be pure and kind. He must do this with humility. And if it came to it, he mustn't be afraid even of death; even then he must remain a man.' Well then, we'll see, ' he said to himself. 'Maybe I do have enough strength. Your strength, Mother.. Vasily Grossman
The reality of loving God is loving him like he's a Superhero who actually saved you from stuff rather than a Santa Claus who merely gave you some stuff.
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Criss Jami
When it was over, she gathered him in her arms. And told him the terrible irony of her life. That she had wanted to be dead all those years while her brother had been alive. That had been her sin. And this was her penance....
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Melina Marchetta
When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The word ‘sin’ is derived from the Indo-European root ‘es-, ’ meaning ‘to be.’ When I discovered this etymology, I intuitively understood that for a [person] trapped in patriarchy, which is the religion of the entire planet, ‘to be’ in the fullest sense is ‘to...
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Mary Daly
More Quotes By Vasily Grossman
Ivan tells Anna: "I used to imagine that being embraced by a woman .. . as something so wonderful that it would make me forget everthing .. . [But] happiness, it turns out, will be to share with you the burden I can't share with...
Human groupings have one main purpose: to assert everyone’s right to be different, to be special, to think, feel and live in his or her own way. People join together in order to win or defend this right. But this is where a terrible, fateful...
I used to think freedom was freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience. But freedom is the whole life of everyone. Here is what it amounts to: you have to have the right to sow what you wish to, to make shoes...
There is a deep and undeniable sadness in all this: whenever we see the dawn of an eternal good that will never be overcome by evil — an evil that is itself eternal but will never succeed in overcoming good — whenever we see this...
Another fact that allowed Fascism to gain power over men was their blindness. A man cannot believe that he is about to be destroyed. The optimism of people standing on the edge of the grave is astounding.
