Franny and Zooey: a novel

He says the only people he ever really wants to meet for a drink somewhere are all either dead or unavailable.

I could happily lie down and die sometimes,"

wish to hell every-body'd go home. I'm sick to death of being the heavy in everybody's life.

and I can't be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight.

There isn't anyone anywhere that isn't Seymour's Fat Lady. Don't you know that? Don't you know that goddam secret yet? And don't you know— listen to me, now— don't you know who that Fat Lady really is? . . . Ah, buddy. Ah, buddy. It's Christ Himself. Christ Himself, buddy."

You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working. Never give way to laziness, either.
Perform every action with your heart fixed on the Supreme Lord. Renounce attachment to the fruits. Be even-tempered [underlined by one of the cal-ligraphers] in success and failure; for it is this evenness of temper which is meant by yoga. Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety, in the calm of self-surrender. Seek refuge in the knowledge of Brahman. They who work selfishly for results are miserable. —"Bhagavad Gita."

If you don't understand Jesus, you can't understand his prayer—you don't get the prayer at all, you just get some kind of organized cant.

I am is against why and how and where you're using it. I'd like to be convinced—I'd love to be convinced— that you're not using it as a substitute for doing whatever the hell your duty is in life, or just your daily duty.

I mean if you're able to go into a collapse with all your might, why can't you use the same energy to stay well and busy?

I'm bringing it up because I don't think you understood Jesus when you were a child and I don't think you understand him now. I think you've got him confused in your mind with about five or ten other religious personages, and I don't see how you can go ahead with the Jesus Prayer till you know who's who and what's what.