THE BIBLE

'And so this quality of the Bible draws us wonderfully into relationship. I read it. I want to grasp it, to gain insight, to understand. But I cannot do that simply by sitting there with it in front of me, studying it. It is his book, and the key to unlock it is in his hands. And therefore my desire to understand it leads me to the Keeper of the key. The very nature of the Bible draws me into loving dependence upon him.'

Christopher Ash, Bible Delight, p. 53.

FOOLISHNESS

'Piglet looked up, and looked away again. And he felt so Foolish and Uncomfortable that he had almost decided to run away to Sea and be a Sailor, when suddenly he saw something.'

AA Milne, The House at Pooh Corner, p.50.

HOLINESS

'Sometimes I consider myself there as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue; presenting myself thus to God, I desire Him to form His perfect image in my soul, and make me entirely like Himself.'

Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, p.21.

KNOWING GOD

'We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our hearts will be with our treasure.'

Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, p. 32.

GOD

'I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King; touched with a sensible regret, I confess to him all my wickedness, I ask his forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands that He may do what he pleases with me. The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite.'

Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, p.21.

LOVE

'"What I did not know - I was a young man - is that there are two kinds of love. The kind that starts off big and slowly wears away, that seems you can never use it up and then one day it is finished. And the kind that you don't notice at first, but which adds a little bit to itself every day, like an oyster makes a pearl, grain by grain, a jewel from the sand."'

Monica Ali, Brick Lane, p. 430.

SORROWS

' ... running away from bees is like running away from sorrows. You bring them with you.'

David Thomson, Woodbrook, p.133.

FRIENDSHIP

'When two people meet and take to each other, they start gradually to uncover one another's past, and the slower the process the deeper the friendship becomes. It is like falling in love, without the torment, and although you do not find each other layer by layer in the archaeologists' way, you see after months or years a whole being who contains his past and present merged with the lives of his forebears. You see the whole of him and he sees you, the present surface always near and the layers of the past melted into one.'

David Thomson, Woodbrook, p.10.

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

'Wilberforce's pursuit of a broad and uplifting vision of society elevates him far above the general rank of politicians. But the fact that he managed to live according to his own principles, and constantly reflect his own beliefs in his own character, is his crowning glory. It may be easier to disdain money and give much of it away if you inherit a large amout of it, but few people born in that position actually do so. It is easy to think that a Member of Parliament can resist all temptations of seeking high office if he has a great cause as an alternative, but it is still a rare event. Wilberforce exercised a genuine and remarkable self-discipline, and managed to do so while maintaining an optimistic and vivacious disposition. His conduct as a husband, father or elected representative is hard to fault. His generosity to those who came to him in need of help became an outstanding example of the virtues he called for in others. He showed how a political career can be conducted differently, pursuing long-term objectives deeply rooted in certain principles, strengthened in his indifference to holding power by his understanding of its transitory nature. As a result, he defied the axiom that political careers necessarily end in failure, going to the grave fulfilled by the knowledge of what he had helped to do, while those politicians to whom power alone is important decline in their old age into bitterness and despair.'

William Hague, William Hague, p.515.

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

'He kindled at the very sight of books.'
J Hartford quoted in William Hague, William Wilberforce, 205.