1
Her name had the likeness of a name. She had the likeness of a woman, with hands but no face at all, since she never let herself see it. She had the likeness of a life, because she was all alone in it. She lived in the likeness of a house, with walls and a roof and a door that kept nothing in and nothing out.Marilynne Robinson
2
He looked up at her. Kindness was something he didn't even know he wanted, and here it was.Marilynne Robinson
3
There was no way to abandon guilt, no decent way to disown it. All the tangles and knots of bitterness and desperation and fear had to be pitied. No, better, grace had to fall over them.Marilynne Robinson
4
The best things that happen I'd never have thought to pray for. In a million years. The worst things just come like the weather.Marilynne Robinson
5
The world comes to us in an endless stream of puzzle pieces that we would like to think all fit together somehow, but that in fact never do.Robert Pirsig
6
She knew better than to waste that time. There isn't always someone who wants you singing to him or nibbling his ear or brushing his cheek with a dandelion blossom. Somebody who knows when you're being silly, and laughs and laughs. So long as he was little enough to carry, she could hardly bring herself to put him down.Marilynne Robinson
7
In that eternity of his, where everybody will be happy, how could he feel the lack of her, the loss of her?Marilynne Robinson
8
If you thought dead was just dead, then you wouldn't have to worry about any of this.Marilynne Robinson
9
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.Marilynne Robinson