Sigrid Undset Quotes & Sayings

All my days I have longed equally to travel the right road and to take my own errant path. — Sigrid Undset

Saint Olav turned her eyes toward Christ on the cross - see, Kristin: God's love. — Sigrid Undset

Many different thoughts rise up in the darkness - like those gossamer plants that grow in the lake, oddly bewitching and pretty as they bob and sway; but enticing and sinister, they exert a dark pull as long as they're growing in the living, trickling mire. ANd yet as long as they're nothing but slimey brown clumps when the children pull them in to the boat. So many strange thoughts, both terrifying and enticing, grow in the night. — Sigrid Undset

No doing without some ruing. — Sigrid Undset

All things that a man owns hold him far more than he holds them. — Sigrid Undset

God grant ... that he may learn to understand in time, that whoso is minded to do as he himself wills will soon enough see the day when he will find he has done that which he had never willed. — Sigrid Undset

Tis well when we dare not do a thing we think is not good and fair; but not so well when we think a thing not good and fair because we dare not do it ... — Sigrid Undset

I hated school so intensely. It interfered with my freedom — Sigrid Undset

I saw not till now what sin brings with it - that we must tread others underfoot. — Sigrid Undset

Help me, Gunnulf," begged Kristin. She was white to the very edge of her lips. "I don't know my own will." "Then say: Thy will be done," replied the priest softly. — Sigrid Undset

I wot well you are more more godly in such-like things that I can ever be - yet, Kristin, 'tis hard for me to see how it should be a right reading of God's word to go on, as your way is, ever storing up wrath and never forgetting. — Sigrid Undset

It is an easy matter, Olav, to be a good Christian so long as God asks no more of you than to hear sweet singing in church, and to yield Him obedience while He caresses you with the hand of a father. But a man's faith is put to the test on the day God's will is not his. — Sigrid Undset

Now her path led down into the darkening valley, but first she had been allowed to see that in the solitude of the cloister and in the doorway of death someone was waiting for her who had always seen the lives of people the way villages look from a mountain crest. He had seen sin and sorrow, love and hatred in their hearts, the way the wealthy estates and poor hovels, the bountiful acres and the abandoned wastelands are all borne by the same earth. And he had come down among them, his feet had wandered among the lands, stood in castles and in huts, gathering the sorrows and sins of the rich and the poor, and lifting them high up with him on the cross. Not my happiness or my pride, but my sin and my sorrow, oh sweet Lord of mine. She looked up at the crucifix, where it hung high overhead, above the triumphal arch. — Sigrid Undset

No one and nothing can harm us, child, except what we fear and love. — Sigrid Undset

For I've realized more and more with each year I've lived: There is no worthier work for the person who has been geared with the ability to see even a small part of God's mercy than to serve Him and to keep vigil and to pray for those people whose sight is still clouded by the shadow of worldly matters. — Sigrid Undset

Catherine [of Siena] sent the Pope five oranges which she had candied and covered with gold leaf ... She develops the theme of the difference between the bitter and the sweet pain, and gives the Pope a recipe for making candied oranges. — Sigrid Undset

She saw the world as if in a vision: a dark room into which a beam of sunlight fell, with dust motes tumbling in and out, from darkness to light, and she felt that now she had finally moved into the sunbeam. — Sigrid Undset

Feelings of longing seemed to burst from her heart; they ran in all directions, like streams of blood, seeking out paths to all the places in the wide landscape where she had lived, to all her sons roaming through the world, to all her dead lying under the earth. — Sigrid Undset

She walked as if through a forest. The pillars were furrowed like ancient trees, and into the woods the light seeped, colorful and as clear as song, through the stained-glass windows. High overhead animals and people frolicked in the stone foliage, and angels played their instruments. At an even higher, more dizzying height, the vaults of the ceiling arched upward, lifting the church toward God ... The song cut through her like a blinding light. Now she saw how deep in the dust she lay. — Sigrid Undset

She had finally come so far that she seemed to be seeing her own life from the uppermost summit of a mountain pass. Now her path led down into the darkening valley, but first she had been allowed to see that in the solitude of the cloister and in the doorway of death someone was waiting for her who had always seen the lives of people the way villages look from a mountain crest. He had seen sin and sorrow, love and hatred in their hearts, the way the wealthy estates and poor hovels, the bountiful acres and the abandoned wastelands are all borne by the same earth. And he had come down among them, his feet had wandered among the lands, stood in the castles and in huts, gathering the sorrows and sins of the rich and the poor, and lifting them high up with him on the cross. (1081) — Sigrid Undset

She [Catherine of Siena] found a place of refuge in a lonely wood, where some hermits lived. It is generally thought that this brotherhood was the community of hermits in Vallombrosa, founded by St. John Gualbert, the man who had spared the life of his deadly enemy because it was Good Friday, and later rushed into the nearest church and fell before the feet of the crucified Christ, as though drunk with this adventure - the adventure of forgiveness. And the Saviour leaned down from the cross and kissed the boy. — Sigrid Undset

By the grace of God, we two unworthy souls were joined together in holy marriage. Branded by the flames of sin, bowed by the burdens of sin, we came together at the portals of God's house; together we received the Savior's Host from the hand of the priest. Should I now complain if God is testing my faith? Should I now think about anything else but that I am his wife and he is my husband for as long as we both shall live? — Sigrid Undset

Catherine [of Siena] compares justice combined with mercy with a precious pearl. Justice without mercy would be dark, cruel, more like injustice than justice. But mercy without justice would be like salve on a sore which should be cleansed with the red-hot iron; if the salve is applied before the wound is cleansed it only makes it smart, and does not heal it — Sigrid Undset

His heart sang in his breast; his soul felt like a bride in the arms of the bridegroom. He realized full well that this would not last. No man could live on earth in this manner for long. And he had received each hour of that bright springtime like a pledge - a merciful promise that would strengthen his endurance when the skies darkened over him and the road led down into a dark ravine, through roaring rivers and cold snowdrifts. — Sigrid Undset

Christ, you who were crucified! Now I have given up everything that could bind me. And I have placed myself in your hands, if you would find my life worthy enough to be freed from its servitude to Satan. Take me so that I may feel that I am your slave, for then I will possess you in return. — Sigrid Undset

And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans
and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused
and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself. — Sigrid Undset

The blood that ran down from the cross in redemption for all sins and penance for all sorrows - that was the visible sign. — Sigrid Undset

She [Catherine of Siena] compares Christ, too, with a knight who has ridden out to fight for us; for our sake He came down from Heaven to fight and triumph over the devil. The crown of thorns is His helmet, his flayed flesh His mail, the nails in His Hands and Feet, His gauntlet and spurs. So we should follow our Knight and take new courage in our trials and difficulties. — Sigrid Undset

Easy for them to keep their youth who will never learn a lesson ... — Sigrid Undset

And she felt joy bubbling up in her heart - that the world was so full of sunshine and beauty and gladness. And she had put herself outside it, banished herself to her corner. For all that, it was a good thing that it was so good to live - for the others, for all who had not undone themselves. And when at that moment she felt a violent quickening of the child within her, her own heart seemed to stir and answer it - No, no, I no longer wish you ill ... — Sigrid Undset

The world is just as harsh a taskmaster as any other lord, and in the end it's a lord without mercy. — Sigrid Undset

But these events had touched her so little - like the echo of thunder from the mountains after a storm had passed over the countryside and was far away. — Sigrid Undset

The most dangerous temptations are not due to the active, sudden flames of desire, 'the lusts of the flesh,' but to the disinclinations of the flesh, its indolence and sluggishness, our tendency to become creatures of habit. — Sigrid Undset

Her heart felt as if it were breaking in her breast, bleeding and bleeding, young and fierce. From grief over the warm and ardent love which she had lost and still secretly mourned; from anguished joy over the pale, luminous love which drew her to the farthest boundaries of life on this earth. Through the great darkness that would come, she saw the gleam of another, gentler sun, and she sensed the fragrance of the herbs in the garden at world's end. — Sigrid Undset

They received food from the monks at the churches they visited, and when they drank the blood-red wine and broke off the golden crust from the bread made of wheat, all four priests from the barley lands understood why Christ had honored wine and wheat, which were purer than all other foodstuffs that God had given humankind, by manifesting himself in their likeness during the holy communion. — Sigrid Undset

One cannot escape dogmas - those who hold most firmly to dogmas today are those whose only dogma is that dogmas should be feared like the plague. — Sigrid Undset

She went as through a forest
the columns were furrowed like ancient trees, and in through the forest flowed the light, many-hued and clear as song, from the pictured windows. High up above her, beasts and men sported among the stone leafage, and angels played
and yet far, dizzily far higher, the vaulting soared, lifting the church towards God. In a hall that lay to one side, worship was being held at an altar. Kristin sank down on her knees by a pillar. The singing cut into her like a too strong light. Now she saw how low she lay in the dust ... Pater noster. Credo in unum Deum. Ave Maria, gratia plena. — Sigrid Undset

God will find you," said the priest quietly. "Stay calm and do not flee from Him who has been seeking you before you even existed in your mother's womb. — Sigrid Undset

I'm not as good a man as you are. I can't so easily forgive those I have wronged. — Sigrid Undset

But man proposes, God disposes. — Sigrid Undset

You mustn't believe, Kristin, that there has ever been a priest who has not had to guard himself against the Fiend at the same time as he tried to protect the lambs from the wolf. — Sigrid Undset

With the few small spots of light like golden stars in the night, the sweet stale scent of incense, and the warm smell of the burning wax. And she at rest within her own star. — Sigrid Undset

I was sent to a school because my father was already aware that his days were numbered, and he was anxious for me to acquire a good education and follow in his footsteps. — Sigrid Undset

The morality code that remains after the religion that produced it is rejected is like the perfume that lingers in an empty bottle. — Sigrid Undset

It seems to her [Saint Catherine of Siena] that the devil has this world in his power, not by his own will, for he is powerless, but through our help because we obey him. The evil aroma rising from the ... wars which are waged by Christians against Christians, are the same as war against God ... Peace, peace, for the sake of the love of the crucified Christ, and not war; that is the only solution. — Sigrid Undset

You tug and strain like a young horse when it's first tied up at the stake, whenever you are tied by your heartstrings. — Sigrid Undset

I am not so foolish as to murmur, if now, since I have drunk up my wine and beer, I have to put up with skimmed milk and sour. — Sigrid Undset

It was too much for weak men, of more or less good will, who knew in their hearts that the Pope was right ad that they ought to cooperate with him, when the Pope demanded, with harsh and angry words, that they should immediately change their way of life and give up all small comforts they had grown accustomed to, in order to live in a state of self-denial suitable for the strictest ascetic. They were agreed that it was time for a reform within the Church. But if this were reform ... And the language he used when he broke into a rage! "Shut up!" he said to the cardinals. He shouted "Pazzo!" -Idiot- to Cardinal Orsini, and "Ribaldo!" -Bandit- to the Cardinal of Geneva. His electors began to regret their choice bitterly. — Sigrid Undset

We are all bound to work in the vineyard where God is the husbandman. We have all been given our little vineyard, but the way in which we cultivate it is of great importance for the prosperity of our neighbour's vineyard ... In fact all our vineyards are a part of the Lord's great vineyard, the Holy Church, and we are all bound to work here too. — Sigrid Undset

But I didn't realize then that the consequence of sin is that you have to trample on other people. — Sigrid Undset

All those wasted and squandered years when I did nothing but go around looking inside myself until I ended up alone even though I was surrounded by people. But I paid attention only to what was happenstance about them - not their true selves. — Sigrid Undset

Prayers, fasts, everything he had practiced because he had been taught to do so, suddenly seemed new to him - weapons in a glorious war for which he longed. Perhaps he would become a monk - or a priest — Sigrid Undset

Yes, well... I suppose the man who owns nothing is free."
Gunnulf replied, "A man's possessions own him more than he owns them. — Sigrid Undset

All that had happened and would happen was meant to be. Everything happens as it is meant to be. — Sigrid Undset

The times when we need prayers or counsel, we are little like to be in a mood to learn, nor yet to understand. — Sigrid Undset

Her father's marvelous gentleness was not because he lacked a keen enough perception of the faults and wretchedness of others; it came from his constant searching of his own heart before God, crushing it in repentance over his own failings. No, — Sigrid Undset

It's a good thing when you don't dare do something if you don't think it's right. But it's not good when you think something's not right because you don't dare do it. — Sigrid Undset

I'm not to blame, Ramborg, if a man's heart is created in such a fashion that whatever is inscribed on it when it's young and fresh is carved deeper than all the runes that are later etched. — Sigrid Undset

Most of my father's life consisted of traveling to almost every part of Europe. — Sigrid Undset

I went to work in an office and learned, among other lessons, to do things I did not care for, and to do them well. Before I left this office, two of my books had already been published. — Sigrid Undset

In all the years when I did not know what to believe in and therefore preferred to leave all beliefs alone, whenever I came to a place where living water welled up, blessedly cold and sweet and pure, from the earth's dark bosom, I felt that after all it must be wrong not to believe in anything. — Sigrid Undset

I rolled myself up into a tight ball of resistance and it was thus that I went through my school years. — Sigrid Undset

But it looked as if Brother Edvin had become so wrinkled simply from smiling at people. Kristin thought she had never seen anyone who looked so cheerful or so kind. He seemed to carry within him a luminous and secret joy, and she was able to share it whenever he spoke. — Sigrid Undset

Many a man is given what is intended for another, but no man is given another's fate. — Sigrid Undset