It is an amazing thing to watch people laugh, the way it sort of takes them over. Sometimes they really do struggle with it . . . so I wonder what it is and where it comes from, and I wonder what it expends out of your system, so that you have to do it till you're done, like crying in a way, I suppose, except that laughter is much more easily spent.
Marilynne RobinsonBecause, once alone, it is impossible to believe that one could ever have been otherwise. Loneliness is an absolute discovery.
Marilynne RobinsonHe will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required
Marilynne RobinsonAnd often enough, when we think we are protecting ourselves, we are struggling against our rescuer.
Marilynne RobinsonThe classic theology of my tradition comes from the French Renaissance. [William] Shakespeare was born in 1564, the year [John] Calvin died, and that theology was very influential in England in his lifetime. I think Shakespeare was attentive to questions raised by it, about human nature, history, reality itself. I find the two literatures to be mutually illuminating.
Marilynne Robinson