Quotes from Sigrid Undset

Then it occurred to me that many of these people had suffered more than Christ himself. "I pondered this until I felt that my heart and mind would burst. But finally I received the light that I had prayed and begged for. And I realized that just as they had suffered, so should we all have the courage to suffer. Who would be so foolish not to accept pain and torment if this was the way to a faithful and steadfast bridegroom who waits with open arms, his breast bloody and burning with love.

Kristin. You cannot settle for anything less than the love that is between God and the soul.

In the middle of the night she woke up when her father touched her shoulder in the dark. Get up, he said quietly. Do you hear it? Then she heard the singing at the corners of the house - the deep, full tone of the moisture-laden south wind. Water was streaming off the roof, and the rain whispered as it fell on soft, melting snow.

But when he saw her — if he but thought of her, a sense came over him as of the first breath of the plough-lands in spring, when the snows are but now melted and gone. He knew it now — it might have befallen him too — he, too, could have loved.

Pre-Christian paganism is a love poem to a God who remained hidden, or it was an attempt to gain the favour of the divine powers whose presence man felt about him. The new paganism is a declaration of war against a God who has revealed Himself

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.

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

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.

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.

Don't you remember, my sister, when the Devil tried to tempt Saint Martin? Then the Fiend asked Saint Martin whether he dared believe it when he promised God's mercy to all the sinners whose confessions he heard. And the bishop answered, 'Even to you I promise God's forgiveness at the very instant you ask for it—if only you will give up your pride and believe that His love is greater than your hatred.

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

Kristin held the child while the young mother went to get a drink of local ale.

Love had always been behind her toil with earthly matters. Erlend had never given her much thanks for that; it was not the way he wanted to be loved. But she couldn't help it; it was her nature to love with great toil and care.

El honor de una mujer era el honor de todos los hombres que tenían el derecho y el deber de velar por ella.

All fires burn out sooner or later.

A man's heart is the first thing to quicken in his mother's womb, and the last to grow still in him. But in him now it sure must soon some to rest.

Good days can last a long time if one tends to things with care and caution; all sensible people know that. That's why I think that sensible people have to be satisfied with the good days – for the grandest of days are costly indeed.

Good days are granted to sensible people, but the grandest of days are enjoyed by those who dare to act unwisely.

I never thought, she went on, that it would be so easy for me to lie. But what must be done can be done.

Afterward they would go to the guild hall, which stood near Hofvin Hospice; there they would drink for five days.

And I don't believe any maiden of good family and with an honorable and Christian upbringing would part so easily with her honor, or her life. No, this is the kind of thing people write ballads about. I think when a man or a maiden is tempted to do something like that, they make up a ballad about it, which helps them, but they refrain from actually doing it.

Så blev allting borta i en mörkröd dimma och ett brus, som först tilltog skrämmande, men så dog dånet småningom bort, och den röda dimman blev tunnare och ljusare, och till sist var den som ett lätt morgondis, innan solen bryter igenom, och det var alldeles ljudlöst, och hon visste att nu dog hon -

Overwhelmed, Erlend felt tears fill his eyes. He hadn't realized himself how much these years of idleness had tormented him.

Overcome and sobbing, the young woman sank down before the cross at the side of the road, where thousands of pilgrims had lain and thanked God because helping hands were extended to them on their journey through the perilous and beautiful world.