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Frederick Buechner

Frederick Buechner Quotes

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Famous Frederick Buechner Quotes

“It is the first day because it has never been before and the last day because it will never be again. Be alive, if you can, all through this day - today - of your life. What's to be done? What's to be done? Follow your feet. Put on the coffee. Start the orange juice, the bacon, the toast. Then go wake up your children and your spouse. Think about the work of your hands. Live in the needs of the day.”

IfsThinkingNeedsFirstsChildrenDoneHandsTodayLastsAliveFeetWake UpOur ChildrenCoffeeYour ChildrenThis DaySpouseOrangeJuiceToastsLast DayOrange Juice
Book:The alphabet of grace
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“But it has been my experience that the risks are faroutweighed by the rewards, chief of which is when you speak to strangers as though they are friends, more often than not, if only for as long as the encounter lasts, they become friends, and if in the process they also think of you as a little peculiar, who cares?”

IfsThinkingLittlesLongHas BeensCareLastsSpeakProcessRiskRewardsStrangerChiefsEncountersPeculiarWho CaresThink Of You
Book:A Crazy, Holy Grace: The Healing Power of Pain and Memory
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“The fearsome blessing of that hard time continues to work itself out in my life in the same way we're told the universe is still hurtling through outer space under the impact of the great cosmic explosion.... I think grace sometimes explodes into our lives like that-sending our pain, terror, astonishment hurtling through inner space until by grace they become Orion, Cassiopeia, Polaris to give us our bearings, to bring us into something like full being at last.”

ThinkingWayGivingStillsSometimesHardPainLastsUniverseSpaceGraceOur LivesBlessingImpactTerrorHard TimesCosmicExplosionsOuter SpaceAstonishmentOrion
Author:Frederick Buechner
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“Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”

WayGivingLongStillsPainLastsPastGivenFunSinKingsFitAngerManagementForgivingSevenLipsTongueWoundsBitterChiefsGiving BackConfrontationSkeletonsAnger ManagementGrievanceSmackDrawbacksDeadly SinsSeven Deadly SinsSeven Sins
Author:Frederick Buechner
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“When friends speak overmuch of times gone by, often it's because they sense their present time is turning them from friends to strangers. Long before the moment came to say goodbye, I think, we said goodbye in other words and ways and silences. Then when the moment came for it at last, we didn't say it as should be said by friends. So now at last, dear Mouse, with many, many years between: goodbye.”

ThinkingWayShouldYearsLongSaidMomentsLastsSpeakSilenceGoneDearStrangerGoodbyeMiceSaying GoodbyePresent TimeTimes Gone By
Author:Frederick Buechner
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“The worst isn't the last thing about the world. It's the next to the last thing. The last thing is the best. It's the power from on high that comes down into the world, that wells up from the rock-bottom worst of the world like a hidden spring. Can you believe it? The last, best thing is the laughing deep in the hearts of the saints, sometimes our hearts even. Yes. You are terribly loved and forgiven. Yes. You are healed. All is well.”

WorldBelieveWellsHeartSometimesLastsNextLaughingWorstRocksSpringBottomSaintBest ThingsForgivenHealed
Author:Frederick Buechner
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“We find by losing. We hold fast by letting go. We become something new by ceasing to be something old. This seems to be close to the heart of that mystery. I know no more now than I ever did about the far side of death as the last letting-go of all, but now I know that I do not need to know, and that I do not need to be afraid of not knowing. God knows. That is all that matters.”

KnowsNeedsHeartMatterSeemsLastsDeathSidesKnowingMysteryLetting GoLosingSomething NewNot KnowingGod KnowsKnowing GodHold FastFar Side
Author:Frederick Buechner
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“From the simplest lyric to the most complex novel and densest drama, literature is asking us to pay attention. Pay attention to the frog. Pay attention to the west wind. Pay attention to the boy on the raft, the lady in the tower, the old man on the train. In sum, pay attention to the world and all that dwells therein and thereby learn at last to pay attention to yourself and all that dwells therein.”

MenWorldLastsLiteraturePayAttentionBoysNovelWindDramaAskingTrainWestComplexesPay AttentionOld ManTowersSimplestFrogs
Book:Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith
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