Jordan Dennis

“First, Paul is anxious that everyone who professes Christian faith should allow the gospel to transform the whole of their lives, so that the outward signs of the faith express a living reality that comes from the deepest parts of the personality. Second, he is also anxious that each Christian, and especially every teacher of the faith, should know how to build up the community in mutual love and support, rather than, by the wrong sort of teaching or behaviour, tearing it apart.”
― N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters: 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus

“Manhood isn’t an on-off switch. That’s what nobody tells you. It’s more like a river . . . you jump in too fast and you’ll get swept away. It’s perfectly acceptable to start by wading ankle-deep along the bank as you observe how the others who have come before you have learned to brave its currents. But right now, all you need is the courage to take that first step.”
― Nicky Drayden, The Prey of Gods

“I don't know what justice is," she said.

"That's because it isn't the sort of thing you discover. It's a thing you make." She looked at him, and he shrugged. "There are things you find out in the world. Rocks and streams and trees. And there are things you make. Like a house, or a song. It's not that houses and songs aren't real, but you don't just find them in a field someplace and haul them back home with you. They have to be worked at. Made.”
― Daniel Abraham, The Spider's War

“Senator, who’s the better farmer, the man who hitches up his tractor and runs it until it breaks or the man who oils and services it and lets it cool off if the engine overheats? And who gets more plowing done in the long run? These men and women who have lived half their lives in loneliness are often thrown off balance temporarily when they finally find someone with whom they can relate, I admit. Sometimes they just want to quit—to be with their new partner every hour. But eventually they come back—and when they do they’re working for something, not just to get away from something.”
― Gene Wolfe, Castle of Days: Short Fiction and Essays