“I must console him for the distance we have moved from the place where he stopped.”

“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”

“Plants need roots because they can't move on their own. Their roots serve them well, stopping them from getting blown all over the place by the wind. But we humans can move around at will, and our roots hold us in place unnecessarily. Usually in a place we don't want to be. Then, when we try to move, we rip our roots, and it hurts, so we end up staying right where we are.”

“Where has God gone?” [the madman asked] “I shall tell you. Wehave killed him – you and I. We are his murderers. But how have wedone this? How were we able to drink up the seas? Who gave us thesponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when weunchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now?Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backwards, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as though through Infinite nothing?Where is God? God is Dead. Go remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murders of all murders, console ourselves?”

“[Kirk] paced back toward his command chair, all eyes on him. "He must have a weakness.""Certainly," Chekov said. "Is he not basically humanoid? He could be poisoned, phasered, stabbed-"Kirk sneered. "Without killing him, Ensign."With a shrug, Chekov turned quietly back to his console, pulling his hands from his lap and placing them on the controls.”

“The question "Who am I?" really asks, "Where do I belong or fit?" We get the sense of that "direction" -- the sense of moving toward the place where we fit, or of shaping the place toward which we are moving so that it will fit us -- from hearing how others have handled or are attempting to handle similar (but never exactly the same) situations. We learn by listening to their stories, by hearing how they came (or failed) to belong or fit.”