Mary Doria Russell Quotes

Quotes about:

• The dachshund is a perfectly engineered dog. It is precisely long enough for a single standard stroke of the back, but you aren't paying for any superfluous leg.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Dog, Long, Dachshunds

  Mary Doria Russell (2008). “Dreamers Of The Day”, p.38, Random House

  47 Copy quote

• I believe in God the way I believe in quarks. People whose business it is to know about quantum physics or religion tell me they have good reason to believe that quarks and God exist. And they tell me that if I wanted to devote my life to learning what they've learned, I'd find quarks and God just like they did.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Atheist, Believe, People

  Mary Doria Russell (1996). “The Sparrow”, Random House

  18 Copy quote

• When it comes down to it, I don't have much in the way of advice to offer you, but here it is: Read to children. Vote. And never buy anything from a man who's selling fear.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Children, Men, Advice

  13 Copy quote

• You know what's the most terrifying thing about admitting that you're in love? You're just naked. You put yourself in harm's way and you lay down all your defences. No clothes, no weapons. Nowhere to hide, completely vulnerable. The only thing that makes it tolerable is to believe the other person loves you back and you can trust him not to hurt you.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Love, Dream, Hurt

  10 Copy quote

• The trouble with illusions is that you aren't aware you have any until they are taken away from you.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Love, Dream, Taken

  4 Copy quote

• Wisdom begins when you discover the difference between "That doesn't make sense" and "I don't understand.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Differences, Make Sense

  Mary Doria Russell (1998). “Children of God: A Novel”, Villard Books

  9 Copy quote

• Sandoz turned and accepted the book, looking at the spine. "Aeschylus?"
  Wordlessly, Guiuliani pointed out the passage, and Emilio studied it a while, slowly translating the Greek in his mind. Finally, he said, "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, againstour will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

  Mary Doria Russell

  Pain, Book, Fall

  "The Sparrow". Book by Mary Doria Russell, February 23, 2010.

  10 Copy quote

• When the preponderance of human beings choose to act with justice and generosity and kindness, then learning and love and decency prevail. When the preponderance of human beings choose power, greed, and indifference to suffering, the world is filled with war, poverty, and cruelty.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Kindness, War, Generosity

  10 Copy quote

• Maybe that's the way to tell the dangerous men from the good ones. A dreamer of the day is dangerous when he believes that others are less: less than their own best selves and certainly less than he is. They exist to follow and flatter him, and to serve his purposes. A true prophet, I suppose, is like a good parent. A true prophet sees others, not himself. He helps them define their own half-formed dreams, and puts himself at their service. He is not diminished as they become more. He offers courage in one hand and generosity in the other.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Dream, Believe, Men

  8 Copy quote

• God save us from idealists! They dream of a world without injustice, and what crime won't they commit to get it! I swear, Mirella, I'll settle for a world with good manners.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Dream, World, Injustice

  8 Copy quote

• The sparrow still falls.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Fall, Sparrows, Stills

  Mary Doria Russell (1996). “The Sparrow”, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• How can you hear your soul if everyone is talking?

  Mary Doria Russell

  Talking, Soul, Your Soul

  26 Copy quote

• If we keep demanding that God yield up His answers, perhaps some day we will understand them. And then we will be something more than clever apes, and we shall dance with God.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Clever, Yield, Answers

  Mary Doria Russell (1996). “The Sparrow”, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• See that's where it falls apart for me!" Anne cried. "What sticks in my throat is that God gets the credit but never the blame. I just can't swallow that kind of theological candy. Either God's in charge or he's not.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Fall, Credit, Sticks

  Mary Doria Russell (1996). “The Sparrow”, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• Faced with the Divine, people took refuge in the banal, as though answering a cosmic multiple-choice question: If you saw a burning bush, would you (a) call 911, (b) get the hot dogs, or (c) recognize God? A vanishingly small number of people would recognize God, Anne had decided years before, and most of them had simply missed a dose of Thorazine.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Dog, Small Numbers, Years

  Mary Doria Russell (1996). “The Sparrow”, Random House

  5 Copy quote

• Rain falls on everyone, lightning strikes some. What cannot be changed is best forgotten. God made the world, and He saw that it was good. Not fair. Not happy. Not perfect. Good.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Rain, Fall, Perfect

  4 Copy quote

• No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there's always a thread of grace.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Dark, Grace, Matter

  7 Copy quote

• The sign of a good decision is the multiplicity of reasons for it.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Decision, Reason, Good Decision

  Mary Doria Russell (1998). “Children of God: A Novel”, Villard Books

  4 Copy quote

• Love is a debt, she thought. When the bill comes, you pay in grief.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Grief, Love Is, Pay

  Mary Doria Russell (1998). “Children of God: A Novel”, Villard Books

  4 Copy quote

• God's got a lot of explaining to do. Of course, God never explains. When life breaks your heart, you're just supposed to pick up the pieces and start all over, I guess.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Heart, Pieces, Break

  4 Copy quote

• The characters Im most emotionally involved with are like friends you leave behind when you move away. You dont see them regularly anymore, but you still love them and keep in touch.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Moving, Character, Behinds

  4 Copy quote

• It would not have suprised Emilio Sandoz that his sex life was discussed with such candor and affectionate concern by his friends. The single craziest thing about being a priest, he'd found, was that celibacy was simultaneously the most private and most public aspect of his life.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Sex, Celibacy, Found

  Mary Doria Russell (2010). “The Sparrow”, p.201, Random House

  6 Copy quote

• I had a doctorate in biological anthropology. I got a post-doc at CWRU dental school in 1983 teaching gross anatomy.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Teaching, School, Dental

  5 Copy quote

• Like so many Boomers, I saw Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 when it was first released and when we were young teenagers. Im not quite sure why - I really wish some psychologist would explain this - but that movie had a tremendous effect on many of us.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Teenager, Wish, Firsts

  4 Copy quote

• Cleveland is really good about recognizing its artists because of the Arts Council.

  Mary Doria Russell

  Art, Cleveland, Council

  4 Copy quote

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