“he noticed an inscription written on the floor at the foot of a pile of bones: What you are, they once were. What they are, you will be.”

“Once Ibrahim bin Adham saw a stone with the inscription, "Turn me over and read!" When he did an inscription appeared: "You do not practice what you know. Why do you seek what you do not know?”

“There was a pair of books, one by Hemingway, another by Thomas Wolfe. Each had written a long inscription to the other. A knowledgeable dealer had to inform the unfortunate owner who had just paid a pretty penny for them that the inscriptions were not authentic, and that the value was not what he had hoped. Later, another dealer discovered that they were spectacular forgeries: Wolfe had written Hemingway’s inscription, and Hemingway, Wolfe’s.”

“He knew at once it was a human bone, when he took it from the baby who was sitting on the floor chewing it.”

“But then what do you do?""I pray for strength."The words were simple, straightforward. Josef pushed against the floor with one foot and the swing moved back and forth, cradling us."And then you're not afraid anymore?""No," he replied. "Then I am still afraid. But then I know that God knows I'm afraid, and that is what makes the difference.”

“If you were a man, you'd know in your bones what direction you were going. It's an automatic thing, this knowing where you are, bred deep in a man's bones.”