# The Cross - Author: [Sigrid Undset](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset.md) - Quotes: 19 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross ## Quotes > “It has been the fate of many a man,” said Naakkve, “that those who were his fiercest opponents in life found success on the road he had pointed out to them—but only after they had made him into fodder for the worms. After his mouth was stuffed with earth, the lesser men no longer shrank from affirming the truth of his words.” p. 306 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/it-has-been.md) > It’s useless to be frightened; fearful men are half dead already. p. 401 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/its-useless-to-be-frightened.md) > She had not come to God with her wreath or with her sins and sorrows, not as long as the world still possessed a drop of sweetness to add to her goblet. But now she had come, after she had learned that the world is like an alehouse: the person who has no more to spend is thrown outside the door. p. 371 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/she-had-not.md) > Everyone expected the greatest benefits for the realm of Norway now that they would once again have a king who was reared and lived among them, who would protect the laws and rights and interests of the country instead of squandering his time, energies, and the wealth of the kingdom on incursions in other lands. p. 306 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/everyone-expected-the.md) > With the words Sira Eiliv had spoken the day before still in her mind, she suddenly realized that as fearful as she had been for her reckless sons and as sternly as she had often admonished them because she was tormented with anguish for their sakes, she would have been less content with her children if they have been meek and timid. p. 399 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/with-the-words.md) > Lord, if only you would give me this and this and this, then I will thank you and ask for nothing more except for this and this and this.… p. 371 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/lord-if-only.md) > She opened her eyes and looked at the ring lying in the dark palm of the smith. And her tears burst forth in torrents, for she felt as if she had never before fully understood what it signified. The life to which this ring had married her, over which she had complained and grumbled, raged and rebelled. And yet she had loved it so, rejoicing over it, with both the bad and the good, so that there was not a single day she would have given back to God without lament or a single sorrow she would have relinquished without regret. p. 421 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/she-opened-her.md) > Brother Nikulaus was also overjoyed. But at the same time Kristin heard other news about him that was not as good. He had laid hands on several farmers over by Steinker; they were in the midst of a dispute with the monastery about some fishing rights. When the monks came upon them one night as they were proceeding to destroy the monastery’s salmon pens, brother Nikulaus had given one man a beating and thrown another into the river, at the same time sinning gravely with his cursing. p. 392 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/brother-nikulaus-was.md) > They headed across the courtyard and over toward the cookhouse. Without thinking, they both walked as lightly and carefully as they could in the new snow. p. 424 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/they-headed-across.md) > Her eyes have been opened to the fact that after the burdens and toil of a young mother comes a new kind of fear and concern for the aging mother. p. 164 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/her-eyes-have.md) > All fires burn out sooner or later. p. 201 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/all-fires-burn.md) > Many a man is given what was intended for another, but no one is given another man’s fate. p. 88 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/many-a-man.md) > Yes, I’ve had to learn to ration out the solace sparingly, Kristin. There’s been a cruel shortage of it for several years now. We have to save it up because we don’t know how long it might have to last. p. 162 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/yes-ive-had.md) > No, I won’t say anything about your father except that he was pious and noble, and you are too; I know that. But often when you speak so gently and sweetly, as if your mouth were full of honey, I fear that you’re thinking mostly about old wrongs, and God will have to judge whether you’re as pious in your heart as you are in words. p. 158 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/no-i-wont.md) > Kristin felt as if she were now an old woman. It seem to her that a woman was young as long as she had little children sleeping in her arms at night, playing around her during the day, and demanding her care at all times. When a mother’s children have grown away from her, then she becomes an old woman. p. 291 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/kristin-felt-as-if-she.md) > After her husband’s death the widow had behaved as if she neither heard nor saw a thing. Stronger than pain or sorrow was the feeling she had of a numbing chill and a dull lassitude in both her body and soul, as if she herself were bleeding to death from his mortal wounds. p. 286 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/after-her-husbands.md) > Ever since the infant had died, she had wondered why she should pray. p. 255 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/ever-since-the.md) > It was easy for someone to stay young if he refused to learn, refused to adapt to his lot in life, and refused to fight to change his circumstances in accordance with his will. p. 287 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/it-was-easy.md) > Was this how she would see her struggle end? Had she conceived in her womb a flock of restless fledgling hawks that simply lay in her nest, waiting impatiently for the hour when their wings were strong enough to carry them beyond the most distant blue peaks? And their father would clap his hands and laugh: Fly, fly, my young birds. > > They would take with them bloody threads from the roots of her heart when they flew off, and they wouldn’t even know it. She would be left behind alone, and all the heartstrings, which had once bound her to this old home of hers, she had already sundered. That was how it would end, and she would be neither alive nor dead. p. 154 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigrid-undset/the-cross/was-this-how.md)