"In this world death has a habit of intervening before we can pay our debts, and the only thing to be done is to pay them to another."

Elizabeth Goudge Literature See all quotes by Elizabeth Goudge →

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More by Elizabeth Goudge

“Human nature is intractable stuff, hard jagged stuff, the kind of stuff that dreams are wrecked on.”

“There is no greater tyranny than that of social custom.”

“A sense of identity is the gift of love, and only love can give it.”

“The human desire to be understood is never quite sincere. It is on our own terms that we desire to be understood, not on the terms of truth.”

“Life is a reaching out for something or someone. That is its definition.”

“We all of us try to make God in our image. It is one of the worst of our temptations.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Every breath you take is a step towards death."

— Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (A.S.)

Religion601–661

#death

"Modern man lacks a unified conception of the world. He lives in a dual world: in his environment, which is naturally given to him, and, at the same time, in the world which since the beginning of the …"

— Jan Patočka

Philosophy1907–1977

#nature

"In another book I learn that ten percent of all the world's species are parasitic insects. It is hard to believe. What if you were an inventor, and you made ten percent of your inventions in such a wa…"

— Annie Dillard

Literature1945–2026

#knowledge

"Young women with ambitions should be very crafty and cautious, lest mayhap they be caught in the soft, silken mesh of a happy marriage, and go down to oblivion, dead to the world."

— Elbert Hubbard

Philosophy1856–1915

#happiness