“To be an American is to move on, as if we could outrun change. To attach oneself to place is to surrender to it, and suffer with it.” IfsMovingSufferingOneselfSurrenderOutrun Book:The Cloister Walk Source: The Cloister Walk
“Acedia is a danger to anyone whose work requires great concentration and discipline yet is considered by many to be of little practical value. The world doesn't care if I write another word, and if I am to care, I have to summon all my interior motivation and strength.” IfsWorldWritingLittlesCareMotivationValuesDangerDisciplinePracticalsConcentrationInteriors Author:Kathleen Norris
“The demon of acedia -- also called the noonday demon -- is the one that causes the most serious trouble of all. . . . He makes it seem that the sun barely moves, if at all, and . . . he instills in the heart of the monk a hatred for the place, a hatred for his very life itself.” IfsHeartSeemsMovingCausesSunTroubleSeriousHatredDemonMonkInstill Author:Kathleen Norris
“If we are lucky, we can give in and rest without feeling guilty. We can stop doing and concentrate on being.” IfsGivingFeelingsLuckySelf AwarenessGuiltyFeeling Guilty Author:Kathleen Norris
“If grace is so wonderful, why do we have such difficulty recognizing and accepting it? Maybe it's because grace is not gentle or made-to-order. It often comes disguised as loss, or failure, or unwelcome change.” IfsMadeOrderLossAcceptingGraceWonderfulDifficultyGentleRecognizingUnwelcome Author:Kathleen Norris
“I wonder if children don't begin to reject both poetry and religion for similar reasons, because the way both are taught takes the life out of them.” IfsWayChildrenReasonWonderTaughtRejects Book:The Cloister Walk Source: The Cloister Walk
“We shortchange ourselves by regarding religious faith as a matter of intellectual assent. This is a modern aberration; the traditional Christian view is far more holistic, regarding faith as a whole-body experience. Sometimes it is, as W.H. Auden described it, 'a matter of choosing what is difficult all one's days as if it were easy.” IfsSometimesMatterWholeBodyChristianEasyDifficultReligiousViewsModernIntellectualTraditionalReligious FaithHolisticAberrationAuden Author:Kathleen Norris
“Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin.” IfsFormGoalDealsVisionImpossibleOne ThingDifficultyThickDelayThick And ThinThrough Thick And Thin Author:Kathleen Norris
