A backslider he could handle, it was the old story, but a red-hot believer, especially a talkative one, could be a devilish nuisance. This kind might be driven away only by prayer and fasting, and he was not adept at either.
– J. F. Powers
He suddenly found himself on the precipice of utility.
– J. F. Powers
I have the ability to create and be in touch with God. I can't change bread and wine into body and blood, but I can take the scum or the slime of the earth and make it into a man or woman.
– J. F. Powers
The praying would have attracted me... I wouldn't have minded the celibacy. But I wouldn't have liked the social side, the constant footwork. I couldn't see myself standing outside church on a Sunday morning talking to a bunch of old women.