In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably, or succeed more miserably.

It is only by loving a thing that you can make it yours.

I watched her departure, as one watches a sunset. She went like a radiance through the dark wood, which was henceforth bright to me, from simply knowing that such a creature was in it.

If both Church and fairy-tale belong to humanity, they may occasionally cross circles, without injury to either.

I've been thinking about it a great deal, and it seems to me that although any one sixpence is as good as any other sixpence, not twenty lambs would do instead of one sheep whose face you knew. Somehow, when once you've looked into anybody's eyes, right deep down into them, I mean, nobody will do for that one any more . Nobody, ever so beautiful or so good, will make up for that one going out of sight.

A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it.

I would not favour a fiction to keep a whole world out of hell. The hell that a lie would keep any man out of is doubtless the very best place for him to go to. It is truth... that saves the world.