Inspirational Quotes by George MacDonald
“To oppose, to refute, to deny is not to know the truth. Whatever good may come in the destroying of the false, the best hammer of the critic will not serve to carve the celestial form of the real; and when the iconoclast becomes the bigot of negation and declares the non-existence of any form worthy of worship because he has destroyed so many unworthy forms, he becomes a fool. That he has never conceived a deity worth worshipping is poor ground for saying such cannot exist.”
“That's all nonsense," said Curdie. "I don't know what you mean." "Then if you don't know what I mean, what right have you to call it nonsense?”
topics: the-princess-and-the-goblin
“A name is one of those things one can give away and keep all the same.”
topics: names
“Could we see things always as we have sometimes seen them—and as one day we must always see them, only far better—should we ever know dullness? Greatly as we might enjoy all forms of art, much as we might learn through the eyes and thoughts of other men, should we fly to these for deliverance from , from any haunting discomfort? Should we not just open our own child-eyes, look upon the things themselves, and be consoled?”
topics: wonder
“Then the great old, young, beautiful princess turned to Curdie. "Now, Curdie, are you ready?" she said. "Yes, ma'am," answered Curdie. "You do not know what for." "You do, ma'am. That is enough.”
topics: faith
“You must be strong with my strength and blessed with my blessedness, for I have no other to give you."-George MacDonald (what God says of us)”
“There are times, and those times many, when the cares of this world-with no right to any part in our thought, seeing that they are either unreasonable or God imperfect- so blind the eyes of the soul to the radiance of the eternally true, that they see it only as if it ought to be true, not as if it must be true; as if it it might be true in the region of thought, but could not be true in the region of fact.”
“The door into life generally opens behind us and the only wisdom for one haunted with the scent of unseen roses is work."-George MacDonald”
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George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."
Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald.
MacDonald grew up influenced by his Congregational Church, with an atmosphere of Calvinism. But MacDonald never felt comfortable with some aspects of Calvinist doctrine; indeed, legend has it that when the doctrine of predestination was first explained to him, he burst into tears (although assured that he was one of the elect). Later novels, such as Robert Falconer and Lilith, show a distaste for the idea that God's electing love is limited to some and denied to others.