How we cite our quotes: (Letter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
If we can be divinely fed with a morsel and divinely blessed with a touch, then the terrible pleasure we find in a particular face can certainly instruct us in the nature of the very grandest love. (1.19.8)
You can get to know a lot about a person from observing his or her face. A slight smirk can communicate more than a wide wave of an arm, especially if we know the person and his or her quirks and personality. And, of course, the eyes, which are often called windows to the soul, can sometimes say more than any words can.
Quote #8
Love is holy because it is like grace—the worthiness of its object is never really what matters. (1.20.13)
We see this theme carried out in Boughton's love for his son, Jack. He loves Jack best of all his children, even though Jack is the most ill behaved of them. Is there a connection?
Quote #9
I love this town. I think sometimes of going into the ground here as a last wild gesture of love—I too will smolder away the time until the great and general incandescence. (2.21.147)
For Ames, Gilead is the place where time meets eternity, and he wants to be with Gilead in death as he was in life. It will be his final resting place—a place he's chosen because he loves it.