Day 8 (November 25) Part I, Chapter VI-VII

“He teaches that if you doubt whether you are dealing with one monster or two, you must strike an average and baptize one head absolutely and the other conditionally.”

I must confess: this (quite reasonable) idea of Father Heribert Jone makes me want to read his book.

“How happy you must be with your complete belief. There’s only one thing you will ever lack—the dignity of despair.”

One of the fiercest things Father Quixote has said so far. Really, one of the fiercest things one can read in any fiction.

“Father Quixote had always been inquisitive in small ways. His greatest temptation in the confessional box was to ask unnecessary and even irrelevant questions.”

The confession box feels like a good metaphor for fiction: Possibly most of the confessions are cliches, but there is bound to be one of those extraordinary stories waiting to be told.