15 quotes
Many a man is given what was intended for another, but no one is given another man’s fate.
The Cross (1922)
It’s useless to be frightened; fearful men are half dead already.
The Cross (1922)
Ever since the infant had died, she had wondered why she should pray.
The Cross (1922)
They headed across the courtyard and over toward the cookhouse. Without thinking, they both walked as lightly and carefully as they could in the new snow.
The Cross (1922)
Her eyes have been opened to the fact that after the burdens and toil of a young mother comes a new kind of fear and concern for the aging mother.
The Cross (1922)
All fires burn out sooner or later.
The Cross (1922)
It was easy for someone to stay young if he refused to learn, refused to adapt to his lot in life, and refused to fight to change his circumstances in accordance with his will.
The Cross (1922)
Lord, if only you would give me this and this and this, then I will thank you and ask for nothing more except for this and this and this.…
The Cross (1922)
After her husband’s death the widow had behaved as if she neither heard nor saw a thing. Stronger than pain or sorrow was the feeling she had of a numbing chill and a dull lassitude in both her body and soul, as if she herself were bleeding to death from his mortal wounds.
The Cross (1922)
Yes, I’ve had to learn to ration out the solace sparingly, Kristin. There’s been a cruel shortage of it for several years now. We have to save it up because we don’t know how long it might have to last.
The Cross (1922)
Everyone expected the greatest benefits for the realm of Norway now that they would once again have a king who was reared and lived among them, who would protect the laws and rights and interests of the country instead of squandering his time, energies, and the wealth of the kingdom on incursions in other lands.
The Cross (1922)
No, I won’t say anything about your father except that he was pious and noble, and you are too; I know that. But often when you speak so gently and sweetly, as if your mouth were full of honey, I fear that you’re thinking mostly about old wrongs, and God will have to judge whether you’re as pious in your heart as you are in words.
The Cross (1922)
With the words Sira Eiliv had spoken the day before still in her mind, she suddenly realized that as fearful as she had been for her reckless sons and as sternly as she had often admonished them because she was tormented with anguish for their sakes, she would have been less content with her children if they have been meek and timid.
The Cross (1922)
“It has been the fate of many a man,” said Naakkve, “that those who were his fiercest opponents in life found success on the road he had pointed out to them—but only after they had made him into fodder for the worms. After his mouth was stuffed with earth, the lesser men no longer shrank from affirming the truth of his words.”
The Cross (1922)
She had not come to God with her wreath or with her sins and sorrows, not as long as the world still possessed a drop of sweetness to add to her goblet. But now she had come, after she had learned that the world is like an alehouse: the person who has no more to spend is thrown outside the door.
The Cross (1922)