"I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody else's, but behind all of them, there's only one truth and that is that there is no truth... No truth behind all truths is what I and this church preach! Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. Where is there a place for you to be? No place... In yourself right now is all the place you've got."
"If you want to get anywhere in religion, you got to keep it sweet."
"That belief in Christ is to some a matter of life and death has been a stumbling block for readers who would prefer to think it a matter of no great consequence."
"It's easier to bleed than sweat, Mr. Motes."
"Hazel Motes sat at a forward angel on the green plush train seat, looking one minute at the window as if he might want to jump out of it, and the next down the aisle at the other end of the car."
"In yourself right now is all the place you've got."
"Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it"
"That's the trouble with you preachers," he said. "You've all got too good to believe in anything," and he drove off with a look of disgust and righteousness."
"...free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply."
"He had a winning smile and it was evident that he didn't think he was any better than anybody else even though he was."