A gift of any kind is a considerable responsibility. It is a mystery in itself, something gratuitous and wholly undeserved, something whose real uses will probably always be hidden from us.
Flannery O'ConnorShe would of been a good woman," said The Misfit, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.
Flannery O'ConnorDogma is the guardian of mystery. The doctrines are spiritually significant in ways that we cannot fathom.
Flannery O'ConnorBehind the newspaper Julian was withdrawing into the inner compartment of his mind where he spent most of his time. This was a kind of mental bubble in which he established himself when he could not bear to be a part of what was going on around him. From it he could see out and judge but in it he was safe from any kind of penetration from without. It was the only place where he felt free of the general idiocy of his fellows. His mother had never entered it but from it he could see her with absolute clarity.
Flannery O'Connor