Sue Monk Kidd
47 quotes
Biography
Sue Monk Kidd is an American writer from Sylvester, Georgia. She is best known for her historical novels, which frequently deal with themes of race, feminism, and religion and include The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings.
"If you need something from somebody always give that person a way to hand it to you."
"Knowing can be a curse on a person's life. I'd traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn't know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can't ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now."
"The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life."
"People, in general, would rather die than forgive. It's that hard."
"There is nothing perfect...only life."
"We are so limited, you have to use the same word for loving Rosaleen as you do for loving Coke with peanuts. Isn't that a shame we don't have many more ways to say it?"
"I realized it for the first time in my life: there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don't even know it."
"It shocks me how I wish for...what is lost and cannot come back."
"Actually, you can be bad at something...but if you love doing it, that will be enough. - August Boatwright"
"People in general would rather die than forgive. It's that hard. If God said in plain language. "I'm giving you a choice, forgive or die,"a lot of people would go ahead and order their coffin."
"There's release in knowing the truth no matter how anguishing it is. You come finally to the irreducible thing, and there's nothing left to do but pick it up and hold it. Then, at last, you can enter the severe mercy of acceptance."
"Look, I know you meant well creating the world and all, but how could you let it get away from you like this? How come you couldn't stick with your original idea of paradise? People's lives were a mess."
"The words were unexpected, but so incisively true. So much of prayer is like that - an encounter with a truth that has sunk to the bottom of the heart, that wants to be found, wants to be spoken, wants to be elevated into the realm of sacredness."
"How do we accomplish this matter of gathering life together in God? We must begin primarily by refocusing our attention keeping our minds and hearts directed toward God. The essence of the centered life is attention to God in all we think, say and do. It is the growing realization of His presence in our most down-to-earth living."
"we need not avoid our active lives, but simply bring to them a new vision and shift of gravity. for in the center we are rooted in god's love. in such a place there is no need for striving and impatience and dashing about seeking approval."
"I said, "Where's all that delivering God's supposed to do?"He snorted. "You're right, the only deliverance is the one we get for ourselves. The Lord doesn't have any hands and feet but ours.""That doesn't say much for the Lord.""It doesn't say much for us, either."
"...he felt God the same way arthritic monks felt rain coming in their joints. He felt only a hint of him."
"It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening."
"When it's time to die, go ahead and die, and when it's time to live, live. Don't sort-of-maybe live, but live like you're going all out, like you're not afraid."
"It was the oldest sound there was. Souls flying away."
"And I was struck all at once how life was out there going through its regular courses, and I was suspended, waiting, caught in a terrible crevice between living my life and not living it."
"We walked along the river with the words streaming behind us like ribbons in the night."
"People who think dying is the worst thing don't know a thing about life."
"Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here."
"There is nothing perfect. There is only life."