Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.
—Flannery O’Connor
There are long periods in the lives of all of us, and of the saints, when the truth as revealed by faith is hideous, emotionally disturbing, downright repulsive.
—Flannery O’Connor (via dailyflanneryoc)
I suppose gambling is not a virtue but it almost seems like one in a society where there is such an exaggerated respect for the dollar.
—Flannery O’Connor (via dailyflanneryoc)
More than ever now it seems that the kingdom of heaven has to be taken by violence, or not at all. You have to push as hard as the age that pushes against you.
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Flannery O’Connor
Faith has to take in all the other possibilities it can.
—Flannery O’Connor
The Southern writer can out write anybody in the country because he has the Bible and a little history.
—Flannery O’Connor
Discovering the Church is apt to be a slow procedure but it can only take place if you have a free mind and no vested interest in disbelief …
—Flannery O’Connor
There is a question whether faith can or is supposed to be emotionally satisfying. I must say that the thought of everyone lolling about in an emotionally satisfying faith is repugnant to me.
—Flannery O’Connor (via dailyflanneryoc)
My own feeling is that writers who see by the light of their Christian faith will have, in these times, the sharpest eyes for the grotesque, for the perverse, and for the unacceptable.
—Flannery O’Connor (via dailyflanneryoc)
Redemption is meaningless unless there is cause for it in the actual life we live, and for the last few centuries there has been operating in our culture the secular belief that there is no such cause.
—Flannery O’Connor (via dailyflanneryoc)
