Why were there an infinite number of ways to feel awkward? He believed this was a theological question having to do with man's place in the universe.… - Marilynne Robinson

“To change my own mind. I try to create a new vocabulary or terrain for myself, so that I open out — I always think of the Dutch claiming land from the sea — or open up something that would have been closed to me before. That’s the point and the pleasure of it. I continuously scrutinize my own thinking. I write something and think, How do I know that that’s true? If I wrote what I thought I knew from the outset, then I wouldn’t be learning anything new.”

Experience had taught them that truth had sharp edges and hard corners, and could be seriously at odds with kindness.

I can imagine Jesus befriending my grandfather, too, frying up some breakfast for him, talking things over with him, and in fact the old man did report several experiences of just that kind.