#wil

The moon had spread over everything a thin layer of silver--over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall of a temple, over the great river I could see through a somber gap glittering, glittering, as it flowed broadly by without a murmur. All this was great, expectant, mute, while the man jabbered about himself. I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace. What were we who had strayed in here? Could we handle that dumb thing, or would it handle us? I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldn't talk, and perhaps was deaf as well. What was in there? ↗

— Joseph Conrad

#nature #wilderness #nature

No, i mean enterprising." said Will. "When I mean morally deficient, I say,`Now, that is something i would have done´ ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#tessa-gray #will-herondale #morals

According to most philosophers, God in making the world enslaved it. According to Christianity, in making it, He set it free. God had written, not so much a poem, but rather a play; a play he had planned as perfect, but which had necessarily been left to human actors and stage-managers, who had since made a great mess of it. ↗

— G.K. Chesterton

#religion #religion

Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire. You don't have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you. ↗

— Desmond Tutu

#god #god-s-love #god-s-will #religion #theology

If that were God's plan, it's a bad bargain; I don't want to have to deal with a God like that...My sense is God and I came to an accommodation with each other a couple of decades ago, where he's gotten used to the things that I'm not capable of and I've come to terms with things he's not capable of...and we care very much about each other. ↗

— Harold S. Kushner

#god-s-plans #god-s-will #omnipotence #religion #religion

The problem of vindicating an omnipotent and omniscient God in the face of evil is insurmountable. Those who claim to have surmounted it, by recourse to notions of free will and other incoherencies, have merely heaped bad philosophy onto bad ethics. ↗

— Sam Harris

#free-will #god #religion #religion

Lately I was near the beehives and some of the bees flew onto my face. I wanted to raise my hand, and brush them off. 'No,' said a peasant to me, 'do not be afraid, and do not touch them. They will not sting you at all, if you touch them they will bite you.' I trusted him; not one bit me. Trust me; do not fear these temptations. Do not touch them; they will not hurt you. ↗

— Francis de Sales

#willpower #religion

When in Reading Gaol he told me that the warders in the dock had been gentle and kind, but the visit of the chaplain in his first prison began with these words: 'Mr. Wilde, did you have morning prayers in your house?' 'I am sorry... I fear not.' 'You see where you are now! ↗

— Charles Ricketts

#empathy #oscar-wilde #religion #self-righteousness #religion

The realm of God is dangerous. You must enter into it and not just seek information about it ↗

— Archbishop Anthony Bloom

#god #life #religion #wild-at-heart #religion

Gabriel’s green eyes sought Will. “It was demon pox, wasn’t it? You know all about it, don’t you? Aren’t you some sort of expert?” “Well, you needn’t act as if I invented it,” said Will. ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#gabriel #will #acting