I've written a lot of autobiography, which also involved listening. Frederick Buechner More Quotes by Frederick Buechner More Quotes From Frederick Buechner God in his unending greatness and glory and man in his unending littleness, prepared for the worst but rarely for the best, prepared for the possible but rarely for the impossible. Frederick Buechner greatness impossible men It was the upward-reaching and fathomlessly hungering, heart-breaking love for the beauty of the world at its most beautiful, and, beyond that, for that beauty east of the sun and west of the moon which is past the reach of all but our most desperate desiring and is finally the beauty of Beauty itself, of Being itself and what lies at the heart of Being. Frederick Buechner heart beautiful lying And because God's love is uncoercive and treasures our freedom - if above all he wants us to love him, then we must be left free not to love him - we are free to resist it, deny it, crucify it finally, which we do again and again. This is our terrible freedom, which love refuses to overpower so that, in this, the greatest of all powers, God's power, is itself powerless. Frederick Buechner treasure want love-is To be bored to death is a form of suicide. Frederick Buechner bored form suicide I loved rain for making home seem home more deeply, and I suspect that is why, from as far back as I can remember, I also loved those books I read and the people I met in them and the worlds they opened up to me. Like a house in the rain, books were havens of permanence and protection from whatever it was that as a child I needed protection from. Frederick Buechner rain book children The magic of words is that they have power to do more than convey meaning; not only do they have the power to make things clear, they make things happen. Frederick Buechner make-things-happen clear magic When a child is born, a father is born. A mother is born, too of course, but at least for her it's a gradual process. Body and soul, she has nine months to get used to what's happening. She becomes what's happening. But for even the best-prepared father, it happens all at once. On the other side of a plate-glass window, a nurse is holding up something roughly the size of a loaf of bread for him to see for the first time. Frederick Buechner dad daughter mother You do not need to understand healing to be healed or know anything about blessing to be blessed. Frederick Buechner blessed blessing healing The world speaks of holy things in the only language it knows, which is worldly language. Frederick Buechner language speak world Toleration is often just indifference in disguise. Frederick Buechner toleration disguise indifference Don't look down on them for looking down on us. Look at them, instead, as friends we don't know yet and who don't yet know what they are missing in not knowing us. Frederick Buechner knowing missing looks Unbelief is as much of a choice as belief is. What makes it in many ways more appealing is that whereas to believe in something requires some measure of understanding and effort, not to believe doesn't require much of anything at all. Frederick Buechner choices atheist believe All 'isms' run out in the end, and good riddance to most of them. Patriotism for example. [...] If in the interest of making sure we don't blow ourselves off the map once and for all, we end up relinquishing a measure of national sovereignty to some international body, so much the worse for national sovereignty. There is only one Sovereignty that matters ultimately, and it is of another sort altogether. Frederick Buechner example blow running It’s less the words they say than those they leave unsaid that split old friends apart. Frederick Buechner unsaid splits old-friends I believe that what Genesis suggests is that this original self, with the print of God's thumb still upon it, is the most essential part of who we are and is buried deep in all of us as a source of wisdom and strength and healing which we can draw upon or, with our terrible freedom, not draw upon as we choose. I think that among other things all real art comes from that deepest self - painting, writing music, dance, all of it that in some way nourishes the spirit. Frederick Buechner real believe art I suspect that Jesus spoke many of his parables as a kind of sad and holy joke and that that may be part of why he seemed reluctant to explain them because if you have to explain a joke, you might as well save your breath. Frederick Buechner may might jesus A God in the hand is worth two in the bush. Frederick Buechner faith latin hands Five friends I had and two of them snakes. Frederick Buechner five-friends snakes two Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. Frederick Buechner wedding-toast real joy The pride that keeps us from forgiving is the same pride which keeps us from accepting forgiveness. Frederick Buechner forgiving accepting pride
