EP

“No doubt his fellow priests would condemn his act as sacrilege; but even if he was betraying them, he was not betraying his Lord. He loved him now in a different way from before. Everything that had taken place until now had been necessary to bring him to this love. 'Even now I am the last priest in this land. But Our Lord was not silent. Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of him.”
― Shūsaku Endō, Silence

“The wisdom of peasants shows itself in their ability to pretend that they are fools.”
― Shūsaku Endō, Silence

“...but what grieved him most was his inability to love these people as Christ had loved them.”
― shusaku endo, Silence

“I tell you the truth - for a long, long time these farmers have worked like horses and cattle; and like horses and cattle they have died. The reason our religion has penetrated this territory like water flowing into dry earth is that it has given this group of people a human warmth they never previously knew. For the first time they have met men who treated them like human beings. It was the human kindness and charity of the fathers that touched their hearts.”
― Shūsaku Endō, Silence