110+ William P. Young Quotes On Education, Slavery And World

William P. Young is a Canadian author best known for his 2007 novel The Shack. The novel has sold over 20 million copies and has been translated into 39 languages. Young is also the author of the 2018 novel Cross Roads. Following is our collection on famous quotes by William P. Young on education, leadership, life.

Top 10 William P. Young Quotes

1. The soul is healed by being with children. --Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2. Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat.
3. Don't ever discount the wonder of your tears. They can be healing waters and a stream of joy. Sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak.
4. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved.
5. Emotions are the colors of the soul.
6. Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.
7. The ability to choose is at the essential core of our grandeur. Even evil exists because God respects our ability to choose.
8. Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.
9. You are free to love without an agenda
10. Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships of love and respect.

William P. Young Short Quotes

• Forgiveness in no way requires that you trust the one you forgive.
• Love is not the limitation; love is the flying.
• Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly.
• Living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly.
• If anything matters, then everything matters.
• You are a beautiful mess, you are the melody.
• Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside.
• It is not the nature of love to force a relationship, but it is the nature of love to open the way.
• Love always leaves a significant mark.
• You cannot produce trust just like you cannot 'do' humility. It either is or is not.

William P. Young Quotes About Life

I don't just want a piece of you and a piece of your life. Even if you were able, which you are not, to give me the biggest piece, that is not what I want. I want all of you and all of every part of you and your day. — William P. Young

Don't forget that in the midst of all your pain and heartache, you are surrounded by beauty, the wonder of creation, art, your music and culture, the sounds of laughter and love, of whispered hopes and celebrations, of new life and transformation, of reconciliation and forgiveness. — William P. Young

And when you learn, over the course of your life, that it's not about pleasing God, it's about learning how to trust God. That's a huge watershed, because trust is a whole different ballgame than appeasement or pleasing. — William P. Young

Why do children love to hide and seek? Ask any person who has a passion to explore and discover and create. The choice to hide so many wonders from you is an act of love that is a gift inside the process of life. — William P. Young

mistakes are a part of life, and Papa works her purpose in them too. — William P. Young

Why would the God of the universe want to be submitted to me?' Because we want you to join us in our circle of relationship. I don't want slaves to my will; I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me. — William P. Young

Nothing in life is ritual. — William P. Young

I make a distinction between true and real. I think that the story is true, it’s just not real. That’s what a parable is. It takes things that we all know are real, and it takes life events that actually happens, and it weaves them into a fiction that allows truth to actually be embedded. — William P. Young

This life is only the anteroom of a greater reality to come. — William P. Young

Through . . . lies you try to run your life and manipulate others. . . . Lies become an inhibitor in your relationship . . . . — William P. Young

William P. Young Famous Quotes And Sayings

...if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will be the same again. — William P. Young

Perhaps there is supranatural: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in. — William P. Young

You need boundaries... Even in our material creations, boundaries mark the most beautiful of places, between the ocean and the shore, between the mountains and the plains, where the canyon meets the river. — William P. Young

I don't want my kids growing up with the image of God that I had -- Plato's white grandfatherly god -- because that god is not a very good father. When it comes down to it, you can't trust him with your kids. — William P. Young

The intricacy and the inherent beautiful fragility of the human soul is such that it is uniquely damaged and only God knows how to heal it, and it's going to take time. — William P. Young

I think that most creative fiction involves the transformational process, whether it is Dickens or Dostoyevsky and the writer in some sense is expressing their own journey through such a wilderness. — William P. Young

So many believe that it is love that grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. — William P. Young

I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it. — William P. Young

All I want from you is to trust me with what little you can, and grow in loving people around you with the same love I share with you. It's not your job to change them, or to convince them. You are free to love without an agenda. — William P. Young

Forgiveness does not create a relationship. Unless people speak the truth about what they have done and change their mind and behavior, a relationship of trust is not possible. When you forgive someone you certainly release them from judgment, but without true change, no real relationship can be established. — William P. Young

I really do believe that God is love, one of deep affection and grace and forgiveness and inspiration. — William P. Young

Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself - to serve. — William P. Young

Does that mean," asked Mack, "that all roads will lead to you?" "Not at all," smiled Jesus..."Most roads don't lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you. — William P. Young

I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing, and I know that grace rarely makes sense for those looking in from the outside. — William P. Young

God's voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellect. — William P. Young

"Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly"... "And if left unresolved you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place." — William P. Young

You may have to declare your forgiveness a hundred times the first day and the second day, but the third day will be less and each day after, until one day you will realize that you have forgiven completely. And then one day you will pray for his wholeness and give him over to me so that my love will burn from his life every vestige of corruption. — William P. Young

...humans are not defined by their limitations, but by the intentions that I have for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in my image. — William P. Young

You don't play a game or color a picture with a child to show your superiority. Rather, you choose to limit yourself so as to facilitate and honor that relationship. — William P. Young

Mack was getting frustrated. He spoke louder, 'But, don't I have a right to...' To complete a sentence without being interrupted? Not in reality. But as long as you think you do, you will surely get ticked off when someone cuts you off, even if it is God. — William P. Young

The arrival of the unforeseen reveals the depths of one's heart. — William P. Young

Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you. — William P. Young

But, enough of that for now. Let’s get lost again in the starry night. — William P. Young

when I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. — William P. Young

So no, I’m not too big on religion...and not very fond of politics or economics either...And why should I be? They are the man-created trinity of terrors that ravages the earth and deceives those I care about. What mental turmoil and anxiety does any human face that is not related to one of those three? — William P. Young

You are the root, and only God knows that the flower will be. — William P. Young

Jesus?" he whispered as his voice choked "I feel so lost" A hand reached out and squeezed his, and didn't let go. "I know Mack. But it's not true. I am with you and I'm not lost. I'm sorry it feels that way, but hear me clearly. You are not lost. — William P. Young

I'm not an actual author but an accidental one. — William P. Young

Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe and powerful. Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others. But the fortress needs walls, so you build some. These are the justifications for your lies. You know, like you are doing this to protect someone you love, to keep them from feeling pain. Whatever works, just so you feel okay about the lies. — William P. Young

Image and appearance tell you little. The inside is bigger than the outside when you have the eyes to see. — William P. Young

I was raised in a tribal situation, among cannibal people. — William P. Young

Today's minor irritations may become tomorrow's treasured memories. We often don't know what we are missing, until it's missing. — William P. Young

It is so easy to get sucked into the if-only game, and playing it is a short and slippery slide into despair. — William P. Young

There is always risk in relationships, but bottom line? The world has no meaning apart from relationships. Some are just messier than others, some are seasonal, others are difficult, and a few are easy, but every one of them is important. — William P. Young

I believe that, that Christ became sin for us. — William P. Young

I think my books give people a language to have a conversation about God that's not religious. There isn't enough new literature that brings the conversation of God into a modern context. I love the Bible, but in the West we've analyzed it until it fits into a structure of control. We need more new stories. We need different ways of looking at things, and I think it's coming. — William P. Young

I am a verb. I am that I amNouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless 'I am', there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive — William P. Young

I give you an ability to respond and your response is to be free to love and serve in every situation, and therefore each moment is different and unique and wonderful. — William P. Young

We've created a theology in the West of a God who is fundamentally self-centered. The imagery of God as distant, unapproachable, unreachable -- that's not a God who is relational. It is a God that gets to declare or judge when he gets pissed off. But there is no basis for love and relationships if God is a fundamentally self-centered being. — William P. Young

You do understand," she continued, "that unless I had an object to love -- or, more accurately, a someone to love -- if I did not have such a relationship within myself, then I would not be capable of love at all? You would have a god who could not love. Or maybe worse, you would have a god who, when he chose, could love only as a limitation of his nature. — William P. Young

Part of my journey is to say that the soul of the human being must be a massively intricate, wonderful creation that God has a respect for in ways that we do not and that leaves a huge amount of space to go explore. — William P. Young

It is remarkable how a seemingly insignificant action or event can change entire lives. — William P. Young

Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to hold power over another is to chose to limit to onself - to serve. Humans often do this - in touching the infirm and sick, in serving the ones whos minds have left to wander, in relation to the poor, in loving the very old and the very young, or even in caring for the others who has assumed a position of power over them. — William P. Young

I wrote a story for my kids. It's fiction. It's not systematic theology. It's not a new book of the Bible. It's flawed, I wrote it. All of that goes into the mix, but I love the controversy. It elevates the conversation. — William P. Young

When we three spoke ourselves into human existences the Son of God, we became fully human. We also chose to embrace all the limitation that this entailed. Even though we have always been present in this created universe, we now became flesh and blood. It would be like this bird (a jay), whose nature it is to fly, choosing to only walk and remain grounded. He doesn't stop being a bird, but it does alter his experience of life significantly. — William P. Young

Much as I venerate the name of Newton, I am not obliged to believe that he was infallible. I see ... with regret that he was liable to err, and that his authority has, perhaps, sometimes even retarded the progress of science. — William P. Young

It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn't even real... — William P. Young

Healing is as incremental and mysterious as the damage ... what took time, takes time. — William P. Young

And the Law that once contained impossible demands -- Thou Shalt Not... -- actually becomes a promise we fulfill in you. — William P. Young

The world in many ways would be a much calmer and gentler place if women ruled. There would have been fewer children sacrificed to the gods of greed and power. — William P. Young

Evangelicals have like millions of rules. And it's just, uh, we have sort of an accepted, rationalism within which we frame religion. And we think that belief, intellectually, is of the same as relationship. And in our Western family conversation, that's become an incredible impediment toward actual wholeness, where the heart and the head are aligned and relationship -- with not just God but with each other. — William P. Young

Truth will set you free. And Truth has a name. — William P. Young

I have moments that aren't too bad, but there's always something I'm struggling with, or feeling guilty about. I just figured I needed to try harder, but I find it difficult to sustain that motivation. — William P. Young

The enemy of a writer is not controversy but obscurity. — William P. Young

He was sick of God and God's religion, sick of all the little religious social clubs that didn't seem to make any real difference or affect any real changes. — William P. Young

Anger is the right response to something that is so wrong. But don't let the anger and pain and loss you feel prevent you from forgiving him and removing your hands from around his neck. — William P. Young

When you chose independence over relationship, you became a danger to one another. Others became objects to be manipulated or managed for your own happiness. Authority as you usually think of it, is merely the excues the strone ones use to make others conform to what they want. — William P. Young

Because you continue to inhabit and believe your metaphors, you cannot see what is true. — William P. Young

If you and I are friends, there is an expectancy that exists within our relationship. When we see each other or are apart, there is an expectancy of being together, of laughing and talking. The expectancy has no concrete definition; it is alive and dynamic and everything that emerges from our being together is a unique gift shared by no one else. — William P. Young

I think good creative writing opens up space for people to come into. Let God reach out and touch the human soul. That's not my job. I get to be present and create as much space as I can ... That frees me up just to be creative in the way I want to be. — William P. Young

Thank goodness there are women in our lives -- that's all I can say. We get saved by the women in our lives. — William P. Young

Jesus picked up the conversation. "As the crowning glory of creation, you were made in Our image, unencumbered by structure and free to simply 'be' in relationship with Me and one another. If you had trully learned to regard one another's concerns as significant as your own, there would be no need for hierarchy. — William P. Young

Did I hear God call me an idiot? — William P. Young

Even though you can't finally grasp me, guess what? I still want to be known. — William P. Young

I grew up fundamentalist, evangelical, Protestant. Those are my roots, and they are good roots. But it means the Pharisees are my people. I grew up with an image of God that was not helpful -- largely the face of my father expanded. — William P. Young

If a rainbow makes a sound, or a flower as it grows, that was the sound of her laughter. — William P. Young

I'm an accidental writer. — William P. Young

Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe & powerful. — William P. Young

There is only one race ... and it is human! — William P. Young

I am especially fond of you. — William P. Young

It grants you the power to judge others and feel superior to them. You believe you are living to a higher standard than those you judge. Enforcing rules, especially in more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainly out of uncertainty. And contrary to what you might think, I have a great fondness for uncertainty. Rules cannot bring freedom; they only have the power to accuse. — William P. Young

Disconnect your identity from what you produce, and that’s a hard thing for us because we think of our significance, worth and value based on what we do instead of who we are. — William P. Young

Love is much stronger than your fault could ever be. — William P. Young

Look at us human beings: it's so much easier to be right than to love. — William P. Young

You have to take the time to prepare the soil if you want to embrace the seed. — William P. Young

Authority, as you usually think of it, is merely the excuse the strong use to make others conform to what they want. — William P. Young

Responsibilites and expectations are the basis of guilt and shame and judgement, and they provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value. — William P. Young

Let me say for now that we knew once the Creation was broken, true fathering would be much more lacking than mothering. Don't misunderstand me, both are needed- but an emphasis on fathering is necessary because of the enormity of its absence — William P. Young

Women, in general, will find it difficult to turn from a man and stop demanding that he meets their needs, provides security, and protects their identity, and return to me. Men, in general, find it very hard to turn from the works of their hands, their own quests for power and security and significance, and turn to me. — William P. Young

City and country -- each has its own beauty and its own pain. Some of the smallness of small towns -- cattiness, everybody knowing everybody's business -- that can be challenging. And cities can be challenging, because no one can connect except electronically. — William P. Young

Mackenzie, you cannot produce trust, just as you cannot 'do' humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me. — William P. Young

My dad was a preacher. My relationship, for example, with my father -- very difficult, and very painful, and it took me 50 years to wipe the face of my father off the face of God. — William P. Young

Life Lessons by William P. Young

1. William P. Young's work emphasizes the importance of faith in the face of adversity and the power of love to overcome all obstacles.
2. He also highlights the need to recognize our own limitations and accept help from others when needed.
3. Finally, Young's novels demonstrate that we can find strength and hope even in the darkest of times.