“The little girl expects no declaration of tenderness from her doll. She loves it, & that s all. It is thus that we should love.”
“I told him, though, that he better be good to you. When you came along, I said I d share you, but I told him to remember that you re my sister. I loved you first. (Riley to her sister Alice about Paul)”
“She is mine. Edward’s low voice was suddenly dark, not as composed as before. I didn’t say I would fight fair.”
“Feel within, the pure and unconditional Love and embrace all.”
“She sacrifices her dream to make my dream come true.”
“Kalmar nodded. I m sorry, Papa. I wasn t strong enough. None of us are, lad. Me least of all. Esben smiled and took a rattling breath. But it s weakness that the Maker turns to strength. Your fur is why you alone loved a dying cloven. You alone in all the world knew my need and ministered to my wounds. Esben pulled Kalmar closer and kissed him on the head. And in my weakness, I alone know your need. Hear me, son. I loved you when you were born. I loved you when I wept in the Deeps of Throg. I loved you even as you sang the song that broke you. And I love you now in the glory of your humility. You re more fit to be the king than I ever was. Do you understand? Kalmar shook his head. Esben smiled and shuddered with pain. A good answer, my boy. Then do you believe that I love you? Yes, sir. I believe you. Kalmar buried his face in his father s fur. Remember that in the days to come. Nia, Janner, Leeli - help him to remember.”
“It takes a cat to heal a woman s wounded heart. I say this knowing it takes a full range of other factors to resolve emotional damage issues and restore personal equilibrium. I ve had a heaping share of therapy, familial support, friendships and rescue. What I craved now, however, was the privacy, closeness, and unconditional love of a cat to bring my healing process full cycle. I needed CiCi.”
“The unconditional love of God leads to a life of freedom and transforms each day into a potentially wild adventure. ”
“There is a stranger who is more than a friend, and a friend who is worse than a stranger.”
“Een jongetje zei tegen zijn moeder dat hij helemaal van haar hield. Ze corrigeerde hem: Het is niet helemaal , maar heel veel . Maar hij zei: Nee, helemaal . Van mijn schommelpaard en speelgoedauto hou ik heel veel , maar van jou hou ik helemaal . Toen begreep ze dat hij hield van alles wat zij was.”
“Als haar zoon Titi,het meisje uit India en met een onbekende afkomst wilde, dan was het goed. Zolang hij van haar hield en zij van hem, was dat voor hen beide de beste keus. Zo was het”
“Soul is like a surname in this time and space matrix. It’s the ever loving, abiding, and continuous connection to your auspicious origin. You can’t sell it or give it up. It is not possible. Soul is you.”
“There is a dreadful emptiness in the spiritual fatherhood. No power, no success, no popularity, no easy satisfaction. But that same dreadful emptiness is also the place of true freedom. It is the place where there is “nothing left to lose.” There I am free to receive the burdens of others without any need to evaluate, categorize, or analyze. There, in that completely non-judgmental state of being. I felt no desire to ask questions about the past or to speculate about the future. Each time we touch that sacred emptiness of non-demanding love, heaven and earth tremble and there is great “rejoicing among the angels of God.”
“[Cole Doherty] You re asking the wrong person. I don t believe unconditional love is a human emotion. Really? June [Briscoe] tends to believe this, too, but she s never said it out loud. Strongest drive in any mammal, and I limit it to mammals just because they re my area of specialized knowledge, is to avoid pain. It takes a lot to overcome that. But people, and animals, they do it all the time. They put themselves in mortal danger to save their children. But emotional pain is different. If your love is getting pushed back at you, that unconditional river of it, you can avoid the pain so easily by draining out the water.”
“Who knows, perhaps after I ve seen your true face, we develop passionate, torrid emotions for each other, have a one night stand, and I won t think of you afterwards again. But the way you are now...makes me want to live out the rest of my life with you instead.”
“On the contrary, good deed is altruistic and confident of its own quiet but wonder-working power. And if, after many years, a person s past good deed comes back to him from a different quarter, this means it has made the rounds of that many more people and the circle of its effect has grown that much wider.”
“‘Now tell me, what do you think heaven is, Ray?’ ‘I don’t know. The closest I can think of is a feeling. Or an energy. It’s probably love. You just join love. They say you see your grandparents again or whatever, but it won’t be like that. You don’t see, but you feel them. You join their love and everyone else’s love who ever lived.’”