How we cite our quotes: Paragraph (P#) or Line (Line #)
Quote #1
Now was I in a strait, and did not see
Which was the best thing to be done by me:
At last I thought, since you are thus divided,
I print it will, and so the case decided. (Stanza 6)
In this passage from the "Apology" at the beginning of the book, Bunyan describes his response to the conflicting advice of his friends over whether or not to publish. The apology also describes in-depth his decision to write in allegorical form, but the decision to publish is something he also feels the need to defend. At a time when print was only about a hundred years old, printing one's writing was not only gutsy but expensive. In this way, Bunyan's choice to print is something he offers as proof of his confidence in the book and his belief that it may bring otherwise unwilling people to the Christian life.
Quote #2
"Life, life, eternal life!" (P8)
Fingers stopping his ears, this is Christian's battle cry as he runs from the City of Destruction. It's also a pretty clear articulation of what he's choosing instead of staying at home with his wife and children. How does this first of many tough decisions through the journey depict the nature of spiritual choices? Is it simply a choice of which church to go to, or something with more life-and-death significance? Why begin the story here, with this choice, instead of sometime earlier in Christian's life?
Quote #3
Worldy-Wiseman: How camest thou by thy burden first?
Christian: By reading this book in my hand.
Worldly-Wiseman: I thought so; and it is happened unto thee as to other weak men, who meddling with things too high for them, do suddenly fall into thy distractions; which distractions not only unman men (as thine I perceive has done thee), but they run them upon desperate ventures, to obtain they know not what." (P75-77)
This exchange between the condescending Worldly-Wiseman and Christian is significant to the theme of choices. It represents a widely held critique of the fervently religious that they're simply taking themselves and their choices too seriously. To Worldly-Wiseman, this "distraction" of self-importance and taking one's decisions seriously literally makes people unfit to be part of society.