14 quotes
I could only choose between being an outcast and being dishonest.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I often had occasion to remind myself in years to come that self-interest isn't a principle- it's just self-interest.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
An education is meaningless unless it equips students to have a better life.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I could feel the golden handcuffs of a comfortable but unfulfilling life snapping shut on my wrists.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
Then, as always, I felt morally obligated to advocate our official position, even when it conflicted with my personal views.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I began to suspect that Daddy had been right all along: the only hope I had of changing the world was to change myself first.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
Thanks to God's direct intervention, I had risen phoenixlike from the ashes of self-pity and despair, and though my wounds were still raw, I trusted that in time they, too, would heal.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I had sworn to administer justice "faithfully and impartially." To do otherwise would be to violate my oath. That meant I had no business of imposing my personal views on the country. Nor did I have the slightest intention of doing so.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
Perhaps the fires through which I had passed would have a purifying effect on me, just as a blast furnace burns the impurities out of steel.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I knew that until I was ready to tell the truth as I saw it, I was no better than a politician- but I didn't know whether I would ever be brave enough to break ranks and speak my mind.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
For a time we wondered why our real father didn't come and rescue us, but we had long since accepted our fate by the time we finally met him.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I was seized with a guilt that I knew would never leave me, and I knew I didn't deserve to be free of it. I hadn't quite reached the end of my rope, but I was close enough.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
How often had he longed to hold us, hug us, grant our every wish, but held himself back for fear of letting us see his vulnerability, believing as he did that real love demanded not affection but discipline?
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
Long after the fact, it occurred to me that this was a metaphor for life- blisters come before calluses, vulnerability before maturity- but not even the thickest of skins could have spared us the lash of Daddy's tongue.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)