He prayed as he breathed, forming no words and making no specific requests, only holding his heart, like broken birds in cupped hands,
Every Spring is the only Spring, a perpetual astonishment. It bursts upon a man every year, thought Cadfael, contemplating it with delight in spite of all anxieties, as though it had never happened be...
What are wits for unless a man uses them?
Brother Cadfael knew better than to be in a hurry, where souls were concerned. There was plenty of elbow-room in eternity.
Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment!
Truth like the burgeoning of a bulb under the soil however deeply sown will make its way to the light.
Nothing learned is ever quite wasted.
Oh, sometimes I like to put the sand of doubt into the oyster of my faith. (Br. Cadfael)
Once, I remember, Father Abbot said that our purpose is justice, and with God lies the privilege of mercy. But even God, when he intends mercy, needs tools to his hand.
Well, you can fairly claim the day hasn't been wasted,' owned Cadfael generously, 'if something's been learned.
When a dutiful brother came to relieve him, he went to his bed, and slept as soon as he lay down. He had the gift. There was no profit in laying awake fretting for what would, in any case, have to be...
It's a kind of arrogance to be so certain you're past redemption.
Now have ado with a man!
In every decision there must be some regrets.
Bitter though it may be to many, Cadfael concluded, there is no substitute for truth, in this or any case.
All the things of the wild have their proper uses. Only misuse makes them evil.
A man must be prepared to face life, as well as death, there's no escape from either.
Murder is murder,as much a curse to the slayer as to the slain, and cannot be a matter of indifference, whoever the dead may be.
In happiness or unhappiness, living is a duty, and must be done thoroughly.
And who knows, thought Cadfael, which is in the right, the young man who sees the best in all, and trusts all, or the old one who suspects all until he has probed them through and through? The one may...
