Parable Quotes

“Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.”
― Cormac McCarthy, The Road

“Silk is a fine, delicate, soft, illuminating, beautiful substance. But you can never rip it! If a man takes this tender silk and attempts to tear it, and cannot tear it, is he in his right mind to say "This silk is fake! I thought it was soft, I thought it was delicate, but look, I cannot even tear it" ? Surely, this man is not in his right mind! The silk is not fake! This silk is 100% real. It's the man who is stupid!”
― C. JoyBell C.

“First they came for the verbs, and I said nothing because verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns, and I speech nothing because I no verbs.”
― Peter Ellis

“I could end this with a moral,
as if this were a fable about animals,
though no fables are really about animals.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Tent

“A cherry pie is . . . ephemeral. From the moment it emerges from the oven it begins a steep decline: from too hot to edible to cold to stale to mouldy, and finally to a post-pie state where only history can tell you that it was once considered food. The pie is a parable of human life.”
― Nick Harkaway, The Gone-Away World

“The truth is that Trout, like Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury and many others, writes parables. These are set in frames which have become called, for no good reason, science fiction. A better generic term would be 'future fairy tales'. And even this is objectionable, since many science fiction stories take place in the present or the past, far and near.”
― Philip José Farmer

“We've also evolved the ability to simply 'pay it forward': I help you, somebody else will help me. I remember hearing a parable when I was younger, about a father who lifts his young son onto his back to carry him across a flooding river. 'When I am older,' said the boy to his father, 'I will carry you across this river as you now do for me.' 'No, you won't,' said the father stoically. 'When you are older you will have your own concerns. All I expect is that one day you will carry your own son across this river as I no do for you.' Cultivating this attitude is an important part of Humanism--to realize that life without God can be much more than a series of strict tit-for-tat transactions where you pay me and I pay you back. Learning to pay it forward can add a tremendous sense of meaning and dignity to our lives. Simply put, it feels good to give to others, whether we get back or not.”
― Greg Epstein, Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe

“I follow suit, said the lion,
vacating his coat of arms
and movie logos; and the eagle said,
Get me off this flag.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Tent

“Leopards break into the temple and drink to the dregs what is in the sacrificial pitchers; this is repeated over and over again; finally it can be calculated in advance, and it becomes a part of the ceremony.

(Leoparden brechen in den Tempel ein und saufen die Opferkrüge leer; das wiederholt sich immer wieder; schließlich kann man es vorausberechnen, und es wird ein Teil der Zeremonie.)”
― Franz Kafka, Parables and Paradoxes

“Every phenomenon on earth is a parable and every parable is an open gate (...)”
― Hermann Hesse

“Part of being a good steward of capital is paying to others what is due to them for services we received which added value to our lives.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, 4 Business Lessons From Jesus: A businessmans interpretation of Jesus' teachings, applied in a business context.

“Someone said, 'It's all been done before.'
Yes, I agreed, but we all have to say it in our own voice.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

“You see de rattlesnake in de woods?' Dey say, 'Yeah.' I say 'If you bother wid him, he bite you. If you know de snake killee you, why you bother wid him?' (Oluale Kossula)”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

“Unconditional Love is like an apple tree. The apple tree gives apples, not because anyone needs them or deserves them, but because that is what apple trees do.”
― Vivian Amis

“In this world, you are very much like a water hose in the garden. Love flows through you, just as water runs through this hose. Love comes from God, just as water comes from the well. The water doesn’t depend on the hose, just as God doesn’t depend on you. But the water needs the hose to pour on the garden, and the flowers need the water. God needs you to pour his love in the world, and people need his love.”
― Dragos Bratasanu, The Pursuit of Dreams: Claim Your Power, Follow Your Heart, and Fulfill Your Destiny

“When I was small, my mother told me that moths were butterflies that had been banished to the night, where they lived tortured lives dreaming of the day. In this way she explained why they sacrificed themselves to flame; it was both an end to their suffering and a reunion with the light they longed for.
The parable, of course, was meant to warn me against wanting what I should not have.”
― Elizabeth Inness-Brown, Burning Marguerite

“A man doubted that the emperor was descended from the gods; he asserted that the emperor was our rightful sovereign, he did not doubt the emperor's divine mission (that was evident to him), it was only the divine descent that he doubted. This, naturally, did not cause much of a stir; when the surf flings a drop of water on to the land, that does not interfere with the eternal rolling of the sea, on the contrary, it is caused by it.

(Ein Mann bezweifelte die gõttliche Sendung des Kaisers, er behauptete, der Kaiser sei mit Recht unser oberster Herr, bezweifelte nicht die gõttliche Sendung des Kaisers, die war ihm sichtbar, nur die gõttliche Abstammung bezweifelte er. Viel Aufsehen machte das na­turlich nicht; wenn die Brandung einen Wassertropfen ans Land wirft, stõrt das nicht den ewigen Wellengang des Meeres, es ist vielmehr von ihm bedingt.)”
― Franz Kafka, Parables and Paradoxes

“And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., The Radical King

“Є стара притча про різницю між раєм та пеклом. У раю, як говорить притча, ви цілу вічність вивчаєте Святе Письмо. А в пеклі ви цілу вічність вивчаєте Святе Письмо.”
― Роберт Сапольски, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

“If you want to cheer someone up, tell them the parable of the decision: never give up the whole bread loaf, because they will eat it far too quickly. If you give them the whole loaf at one, the board will return in sorrow for the inactive decision; if you give them the ingredients for it you will have an entire bakery in return.”
― Alan Maiccon

“Every MOAN-day .I am looking forward for my WEAK-end.”
― De philosopher DJ Kyos

“Straight theologizing about grace is more, not less, outrageous than parabolic theologizing. The more clearly you make grace sovereign over human life, the more unacceptable become your efforts to harmonize it with life as we know it. The farther you go in expounding grace as the ultimate goodness of God, the deeper you find yourself mired in the manifest badness of God.”
― Robert Farrar Capon, Between Noon & Three: Romance, Law & the Outrage of Grace

“The Provider

Several crows were lined up along the ridge of a quite ordinary house. 'These ridge poles are a good idea,' said a young one. 'Who dreamed it up?' 'This place of rest is a fortuitous gift from the moon,' said a raven who was mixing with the hoi polloi today. 'The moon is a relative of the roc, a distant cousin of mine. Believe me,' he said, stretching his wings out to their full advantage and pushing the crows at the end off balance, so several leaped into the wind and cried, 'caw' . . . 'it depends on your original stock. I've got a piece of the roc.' The moon rose spectral and drained, a gossamer imprint of her nighttime self, a reminder of crystal fracture, the load of swinging primitive stones, the ancient hairy arms with slingshots. A sudden explosion and the sky was defined with flapping and cawing. 'What was that?' cried the young one who was addicted to awe. 'Who knows?' replied the raven. 'Often the moon demands a sacrifice. As a close relative, it is now my duty to go and eat the meat. For it is said, nothing is wasted; nothing is without purpose.' And the raven rose and flew toward the hunters.”
― Ruth Stone, In the Next Galaxy

“Back in the days when the settlers were moving to the West, a wise man stood on a hill outside a new Western town. As the settlers came from the East, the wise man was the first person they met before coming to the settlement. They asked eagerly what the people of the town were like. He answered them with a question: "What were the people like in the town you just left?" Some said, "The town we came from was wicked. The people were rude gossips who took advantage of innocent people. It was filled with thieves and liars." The wise man answered, "This town is the same as the one you left." They thanked the man for saving them from the trouble they had just come out of. They then moved on further west. Then another group of settlers arrived and asked the same question: "What is this town like?" The wise man asked again, "What was the town like where you came from?" These responded, "It was wonderful! We had dear friends. Everyone looked out for the others' interest. There was never any lack because all cared for one another. If someone had a big project, the entire community gathered to help. It was a hard decision to leave, but we felt compelled to make way for future generations by going west as pioneers." The wise old man said to them exactly what he had
said to the other group: "This town is the same as the one you left." These people responded with joy, "Let's settle here!”
― John Bevere, The Bait Of Satan: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense

“I believe ALL of us has a certain quantity of talents. It's up to us to do something with them. Will we share them and multiply its effect, or will we just bury them out of cowardly fear of getting out in front of people? Many people might be missing out just because you aren't spending your talents wisely.”
― Matthew Kenslow

“One does not say of a tiger's kill that both tiger and prey are 'changed for the better' by the digestion, or that the two kinds of animals have 'flowed into one another' to produce a better one. Rather, the food of the tiger becomes a part of the tiger's body, breaking down and obliterating, in the process, the digested animal.”
― Rajiv Malhotra, Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism

“Art is the earliest form of encryption.”
― Monaristw

“Somehow it was all tied up with a story he’d heard once, about a boy born with a golden screw where his navel should have been. For twenty years he consults doctors and specialists all over the world, trying to get rid of this screw, and having no success. Finally, in Haiti, he runs into a voodoo doctor who gives him a foul-smelling potion. He drinks it, goes to sleep and has a dream. In this dream he finds himself on a street, lit by green lamps. Following the witch-man’s instructions, he takes two rights and a left from his point of origin, finds a tree growing by the seventh street light, hung all over with colored balloons. On the fourth limb from the top there is a red balloon; he breaks it and inside is a screwdriver with a yellow plastic handle. With the screwdriver he removes the screw from his stomach, and as soon as this happens he wakes from the dream. It is morning. He looks down toward his navel, the screw is gone. That twenty years’ curse is lifted at last. Delirious with joy, he leaps up out of bed, and his ass falls off.”
― Thomas Pynchon, V.

“All Of Life: The Learning, The Knowledge, The Beauty, The Love, The Friendship, The Power, The Possibilities - All These I'm Looking At. Look You Also Why Life Lasts.”
― Igwe Ogbukah, Flesh And Blood: Jeans Love Sex Desire in the Sun's Snake Island

“If you say that ghosts are not afraid, then why do they always prefer the dark?”
― Igwe Ogbukah, Flesh And Blood: Jeans Love Sex Desire in the Sun's Snake Island