When Crickets Cry Quotes

“People marvel at the genius of Mozart because he supposedly wrote "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" at the age of three and composed his first symphony at the age of twelve. And yes, of course he was a genius, but another way to look at it is that he just discovered early what it was God made him to do. That's all. For some reason, God gave him a little extra, or a little something different, and Mozart found out what that was and then got a head start on using it. Of course he was brilliant, but that's not the point. The point is he knew, and then he got to work.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Termite, you're young, and I'm not sure if you're going to understand what I'm about to say, but here's the nugget: Without the heart, nothing else matters. She could be the Goddess of Love, you could have all the mind-blowing sex you could physically handle, but when the shooting is over, and you're starting to think about getting a bite to eat, smoking a cigarette, or what you do with her now, you're just lying in bed with a woman who means little more to you than the remote control for your TV. Love is not tool; neither is a woman's heart. What I'm talking about, you won't find in that magazine."

"How would you know? You just said you've only loved one woman. I think you need to test-drive a few cars before you buy one."

"You can buy that lie if you want, but if you're working for a bank, you don't study the counterfeit to know the real thing. You study the real thing to know the counterfeit."

Reese talking to Termite, pg. 109-110”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“If anything in the universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart"...It derives no benefit from the blood it pumps making it the most unselfish of organs...it is also the most courageous and faithful." (124, 126) - Reese”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“...but maybe life is like that - you never know when something that's been hidden is going to rise up and bite you, or glow with a golden hue.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“When I find myself wondering what hell must be like, I'm reminded of the terminals in Atlanta. Thousands of people, most of whom don't know one another, crammed into a limited space, all in a hurry and trying desperately to get out.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Emma once told me that some people spend their whole lives trying to outrun God, maybe get someplace He’s never been. She shook her head and smiled, wondering why. Trouble is, she said, they spend a lifetime searching and running, and when they arrive, they find He’s already been there.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Hope is not the result of medicine or anything that science has to offer. It is a flower that sprouts and grows when others pour water upon it. I think sometimes that I spent so much time worrying about how to protect and strengthen the flower - even going so far as to graft in a new stem and root system - that I forgot to simply water it.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“From out of your heart, you speak."
-Emma, When Crickets Cry”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“All hearts stop, Annie. What matters is what you do with it while it’s still pumping.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Puzzles forced me to look at something from several angles before I moved on, to look again, and again, and possibly again because each piece—no matter how small or seemingly insignificant—was critical to the whole.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“A lot of dead writers feed my mind with their ever-present whisperings.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“The heart is not only the most unselfish of organs, it is also the most courageous and faithful.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“I guess sometimes it's got to hurt before it can get better."
I nodded. "Hearts are like that.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“if anything in this universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Hope is not the result of medicine or anything that science has to offer. It is a flower that sprouts and grows when others pour water upon it.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“One of my favorite stories is when Jesus meets the woman at the well. Imagine that moment. She was a ‘loose woman,’ known around town, and in the flash of a second, He knew everything about her: her five husbands, current boyfriend, everything she’d ever done wrong—He knew it all. Yet He spoke to her and loved her despite all the baggage she brought with her. Something about how He treated her was magnetic, because she wanted to be there. Like all of us, she was thirsty, and when He pulled that bucket up just spilling over with clear, cool water, she shoved her whole face in it and sucked it dry. “The people who are really thirsty aren’t going to church on Sunday. They’re driving around this lake, running from their secrets, looking for a good, quiet, fill-your-stomach place to eat. Trying to fill that God-shaped hole with a bigger house, another boat, a second mistress, whatever. So let’s take the bucket to them. Speak to the heart, and the head will follow. And the fastest way to the heart is through the stomach. I want to get in the business of making God-shaped cheeseburgers.” The”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“You can buy that lie if you want, but if you’re working for a bank, you don’t study the counterfeit to know the real thing. You study the real thing to know the counterfeit.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“How many times had I wanted to scream the same way? To purge myself and release the pain in my soul. But somehow, I never had. Maybe those who felt free to do so were only those who didn't posses the guilt of having put the pain there in the first place.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Sometimes I think that hell is two places: it's a place you end up, but it's also a place that you live before you get there. I don't know if the devil's got horns and a spear for a tail, but I don't think that's the point. The point is that hell is separate from love. If Lucifer knows anything, he knows that. And ever since Emma left, I'd known the same thing. It's a lonely, desolate place.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“It was often what Charlie didn’t say that spoke the loudest.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Annie, the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Augustine said it best: You stir man to take pleasure in praising You, because You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“Back home, I went to my closet and pulled out the old engineer’s transit case stored there. When we were kids, Emma and I had found it in the attic, dusty and empty, and the leather strap used to carry it had a small cut in it. The tag on the top of the wooden-hinged lid read Circa 1907. It was mostly weatherproof and offered plenty of room for the things I valued—like books.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“That which we cannot speak about, we must pass over in silence.” At the time”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“had taken all seven thousand puzzle pieces, thrown them into the same basket, and then mixed them together like numbers in a bingo game. Then I dug my hand in and began forming the outlines of seven different pictures. I would need two weeks to put them all together, but it was the process that I enjoyed. One jigsaw was difficult enough, but add the other six, and that’s when it started to get fun. It was, I believe, my introduction to the scientific process.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

“God? He’s in these hills because we are. No matter how far you run, you can’t shake Him. Maybe Davis and I know that best, but Emma knew it first, and Saint Augustine said it best: You stir man to take pleasure in praising You, because You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You. Chapter 11 It was clear, growing cooler late one summer evening.”
― Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry