Consider the Lilies - Quotes

Luke Chapter 12 Verses 27-28 27: Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28: If then God so clothe the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith.

• “He has to be hard on all sinners.” – Mrs Scott • “the eyes, which remained cold though they appeared to twinkle… or the way his head was cocked, or perhaps because of the buzzing of a fly on the window-pane” • “The minister knows best” – this marks Mrs Scott’s beginning to reject the authority of the church. • “Its tranquillity belied its depth” – the sound of the water evoked memories of her mother’s voice. The sunlight reminds her of the moonlight of the night her mother tried to kill herself. • “A child’s face smiling up at her slightly distorted.” • “Could she begin again, miraculously transformed, be neither too hard nor too soft, learn to love and be loved, escape the voices screaming out of the darkness?” • "So it all began again"(last line of the chapter) • “she couldn’t stop it” • “…she leaned back on the pillow, completely relaxed… • “She felt it was dangerous to think too much at this time…” • “whatever cloth is”/ “if you try to come into my house I’ll do you bodily harm”/ “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time” • "the sea steadied"? • "it was too late and too early to begin"? • “Too late” – she had begun to soften. • “Too early” – she did not have the strength to be as severe as she once was. • “You can’t kill all of them”. • “…my husband used to have a uniform like that.” • “I could do nothing about it.” Mirrors Mrs Scott’s powerlessness about her son. • “…to tell the truth of what is happening to us.” To spread the word about the clearances. • “That’s “what I think of Patrick Sellar and his kind.” • “…you’ll find my father’s Bible in the drawer if you need it.” • “…her poor husband whom she had driven off across the seas.” • “…the way she had brought up that son, always interfering.” • “Not a word about God from beginning to end.” • “…all the pain, and all the dead, and all the sorrow of those who had lived in this world.” He realises the suffering Mrs Scott has endured because she couldn’t express her emotions. • “…who evicted emotions and burnt down love.” He feels that religion had bottled up the emotions these people wanted to express, and made them feel “…such pure horror that his head ached.” • “She couldn’t understand all this for she hadn’t been taught to think on general lines.” • If he told her it would destroy her world, “and she would hate him for this…” • Sellar thinks the truth can change. It’s “…what we care to make it.” • “…you’ll thank me for having put you in the way of making a fortune.” • “You will become a legend. You have become a legend… your name will be on people’s lips.” • “Why hadn’t he seen that Mrs Scott wasn’t herself, they say.” • “They had to build them themselves.” • “…they had to make a boat.” • “You and I will be outcasts • “…she couldn’t tell a proper story.” • “She had no stories. She couldn’t remember any stories.” • “Imagine all these children by the sea…” • “…if the rain comes on, then I don’t know what will happen.” • “I used to envy the way you used to dress Iain with all those lovely woollen suits.” • “…he too was gone, abashed and happy.” • “…presences on the moor and at the end of the road…” • “There was no music tonight. Perhaps there would never be music again.” • “I’m too old for fairies.” • 'Take no thought for tomorrow, for the morrow will take care of itself'” • “This is utterly inexcusable Mr Sellar, I told you to go and tell Mrs Scott immediately…” • “…we know that under normal circumstances this acquaintanceship would not be voluntary…” • "It is too late for the pension?" • "stranded on a rock. Safe for the moment." • “I wouldn’t be good for the children.” • "things came in on the high tide which you could keep when the tide was going out again"