Close Enough

“How odd that is! We all profess to believe when we’re told that this world should be used merely as a preparation for the next; and yet there is something so cold and comfortless in the theory that we do not relish the prospect even for our children.”
― Anthony Trollope, Complete Works of Anthony Trollope

“You must have lost your senses!” cried the mother. “What has become of the goat?” “Oh — oh — oh! I was so unlucky. I sold it for a twisted bun!” The moment he uttered the words he realized what it was to sell the goat for a bun; he had not thought about it before. The mother said, — “What do you imagine the little goat thinks of you now, since you were willing to sell it for a twisted bun?” The boy reflected upon this himself, and felt perfectly sure that he never could know happiness more in this world — nor in heaven either, he thought, afterwards. He was so overwhelmed with sorrow that he promised himself that he would never do anything wrong again”
― Charles W. Eliot, Delphi Complete Harvard Classics and Shelf of Fiction

“WHY DO HUMAN BEINGS have cravings over and above their physical needs? It must be that God implanted these unnecessary cravings in us as a challenge. They give us an opportunity to exercise self-control, which is what enables us to rise to the highest spiritual levels. —RABBI ELIYAHU DESSLER (1892–1953)”
― Alan Morinis, Every Day, Holy Day: 365 Days of Teachings and Practices from the Jewish Tradition of Mussar

“And so in truth she did. Miss Palliser had never analysed her own feelings and emotions about the Spooners whom she met in society; but she probably conceived that there were people in the world who, from certain accidents, were accustomed to sit at dinner with her, but who were no more fitted for her intimacy than were the servants who waited upon her. Such people were to her little more than the tables and chairs with which she was brought in contact. They were persons with whom it seemed to her to be impossible that she should have anything in common, — who were her inferiors, as completely as were the menials around her.”
― Anthony Trollope, Complete Works of Anthony Trollope