Inspirational Quotes by George MacDonald

“I knew now, that it is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, and not the being loved by each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness.”

“I may love him, I may love him, for he is a man, and I am only a beech-tree.”

“Here I will mention one more strange thing; but whether this peculiarity was owing to my shadow at all, I am not able to assure myself. I came to a village, the inhabitants of which could not at first sight be distinguished from the dwellers in our land. They rather avoided than sought my company, though they were very pleasant when I addressed them. But at last I observed, that whenever I came within a certain distance of any one of them, which distance, however, varied with different individuals, the whole appearance of the person began to change; and this change increased in degree as I approached. When I receded to the former distance, the former appearance was restored. The nature of the change was grotesque, following no fixed rule. The nearest resemblance to it that I know, is the distortion produced in your countenance when you look at it as reflected in a concave or convex surface—say, either side of a bright spoon. Of this phenomenon I first became aware in rather a ludicrous way. My host's daughter was a very pleasant pretty girl, who made herself more agreeable to me than most of those about me. For some days my companion-shadow had been less obtrusive than usual; and such was the reaction of spirits occasioned by the simple mitigation of torment, that, although I had cause enough besides to be gloomy, I felt light and comparatively happy. My impression is, that she was quite aware of the law of appearances that existed between the people of the place and myself, and had resolved to amuse herself at my expense; for one evening, after some jesting and raillery, she, somehow or other, provoked me to attempt to kiss her. But she was well defended from any assault of the kind. Her countenance became, of a sudden, absurdly hideous; the pretty mouth was elongated and otherwise amplified sufficiently to have allowed of six simultaneous kisses. I started back in bewildered dismay; she burst into the merriest fit of laughter, and ran from the room. I soon found that the same undefinable law of change operated between me and all the other villagers; and that, to feel I was in pleasant company, it was absolutely necessary for me to discover and observe the right focal distance between myself and each one with whom I had to do. This done, all went pleasantly enough. Whether, when I happened to neglect this precaution, I presented to them an equally ridiculous appearance, I did not ascertain; but I presume that the alteration was common to the approximating parties. I was likewise unable to determine whether I was a necessary party to the production of this strange transformation, or whether it took place as well, under the given circumstances, between the inhabitants themselves.”

“Soon I fell asleep, overcome with fatigue and delight. In dreams of unspeakable joy—of restored friendships; of revived embraces; of love which said it had never died; of faces that had vanished long ago, yet said with smiling lips that they knew nothing of the grave; of pardons implored, and granted with such bursting floods of love, that I was almost glad I had sinned—thus I passed through this wondrous twilight. I awoke with the feeling that I had been kissed and loved to my heart's content; and found that my boat was floating motionless by the grassy shore of a little island.”

“Verily the God that knows how not to reveal himself, must also know how best to reveal himself! If there be a calling child, there must be an answering Father!”

“God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.”

“To give truth to him who loves it not is to only give him more multiplied reasons for misinterpretation.”

“RICHARD, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER: I am too childish-foolish for this world.”

“There is nothing good or bad Only thinking makes it so.”

“Kadınlar ne kadar severse o kadar korkar. Sevgileri de kuşkuları da varsa aşırı var. Yoksa hiç yoktur. Siz bilirsiniz. Benim ne türlü sevdiğimi. Öyleyse anlayın ne türlü korktuğumu. Büyük sevgide, küçük kuşkular korkuya döner, Küçük korkular büyüdükçe artar büyük sevgiler.”

“Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages with your lingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.”

“Приходится говорить осмотрительно, а не то мы погибнем от двусмысленности”

“… leaning with her back bowed into the back of the chair, her head hanging down and her hands in her lap, very miserable as she would say herself, not even knowing what she would like, except to go out and get very wet, catch a particularly nice cold and have to go to bed and take gruel.”

“Her intercourse with Andrew had as yet failed to open her eyes to the fact that the faith required of us is faith in a person, and not in the truest of statements concerning anything, even concerning him; or to the fact, that faith in the living One, the very essence of it, consists in obedience to Him. A man can obey before he is sure, and except he obey the command he knows to be right, wherever it may come from, he will never be sure. To find the truth, man or woman must be true.”

“Ye’re a scholar — that’s easy to see, for a’ ye’re sae plain spoken. It dis a body’s hert guid to hear a man ‘at un’erstan’s things say them plain oot i’ the tongue his mither taucht him. Sic a ane ‘ill gang straucht till’s makker, an’ fin’ a’thing there hame-like. Lord, I wuss minnisters wad speyk like ither fowk!”

“...the prose tradition had died two centuries before and the recreation of a full canon of all-purpose Scots was beyond even Scott's skill, nor did he attempt it, except, perhaps in the magnificent . He took the only course open to him, of writing his narrative in English and using Scots only for those who, given their social class, would still be speaking it: daft Davie Gellatley in , the gypsies and Dandie Dinmont in , the Headriggs in , Edie Ochiltree and the fisher-folk of Musselcrag in , Andrew Fairservice in , the Deanses in , Meg Dods in , and so on. The procedure gave reality to the Scots characters whose ways and ethos it was Scott's main purpose to portray, and the author in his best English, which lumbered along rather badly at times, did little more than lay out the setting for the action and act as impressario for the characters as they played their roles... ...Scott's felicity in conveying character and action through their Scots speech inspired his imitators for the next hundred years - Susan Ferrier, Hogg, Macdonald, Stevenson, Barrie, Crockett, Alexander, George Douglas, and John Buchan. The tradition of narrative in standard English and dialogue in various degrees of dialect has been the usual procedure since.”

“Chorus for a Cat I will never subject be, I am free. Try to curb me and, no doubt, You'll find out Just exactly what a claw Is for! Or I'll dematerialize Before your eyes: Ere you lay a finger on Me, I'm gone! You may think I'm in the lane; Think again! You may guess I'm on the roof; Any proof? I am not to hold or bind, Or find. I will hunt and sing and fight In the night. All day long I lie and doze, Comatose: Never answer when you call And bawl. If to order me you choose, You will lose. Try to understand my mind And you'll find Truest friendship I will give While I live; Kindly amiability, And sympathy. If subservience you prefer, Buy a cur!”

“I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter, Giving more light than heat, extinct in both, Even in their promise, as it is a-making, You must not take for fire.”

“وليس الأمر مجرد ارتدائي العباءة السوداء، أيّتها الأم الطيبة، فلا الملابس المألوفة ذات اللون الأسود الحالك، ولا التنهدات المتصاعدة، ولا الزفرات المتلاحقة، كلّا ولا النهر المنمهلُ متدفقًا من العين. ولا الحزنُ المُمضّ الذي يعلو المحيا. ليس هذا كله ولا سائرُ الشارات الدالة على الحداد بالأمورِ التي تستطيع أن تصف حالي وصفًا صادقًا. إنها أشياء يجوز أن تنعت حقًا بأنها "تظهر" لأنها تنطوي على أعمال يصطنعها أي إنسان. ولكن لدي في أعماقِ نفسي شيء، تعجز المظاهر عن محاكاته. فما هي إلّا كساء وأردية تكسو الحزن.”

“For in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness.”