This wasn't prayer anyway, it was just argument with the gods.Prayer, he suspected as he hoisted himself up and turned for the door, was putting one foot in front of the other. Moving all the same.

I need words that mean more than they mean, words not just with height and width, but depth and weight and, and other dimensions that I cannot even name.

Events may be horrible or inescapable. Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how, they may endure.

The gods' most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers. Prayer is a dangerous business.

Well, it is a particular sin to permit grief for what is gone to poison the praise for what blessings remain to us.

It wasn't a case of storming heaven. It was a case of letting heaven storm you.

But personally, I think [sainthood] is not so much the growth of virtue, as simply the replacement of prior vices with an addiction to one's god.

Prayer adds an element of surprise to your life that is more fun than a surprise party or surprise gift or surprise romance. In fact, prayer turns life into a party, into a gift, into a romance.

True friends are placed together for the purpose of accomplishing great achievements that help others.

A frenzy of activity that had mostly led him in circles: wasn't that a fairly accurate description of lust?

applause, n. The echo of a platitude.

I wasn't always black... there was this freckle, and it got bigger and bigger.

Run. Yoga. Hike. Generally try to outpace the nerves. If that doesn't work, one Jack on the rocks.

If you're referring to the incident with the dragon, I was barely involved. All I did was give your uncle a little nudge out of the door.

Above all, ascribe no decent motives to the federal government. Always and everywhere, it is the enemy of truth.

The Bible is God's Word given in man's language

Don't worry about what you can't control. Our focus and energy needs to be on the things we CAN control. Attitude, effort, focus- these are the things we can control.