Inspirational Quotes by George MacDonald
“Refrain tonight And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence: the next more easy; For use alomost can change the stamp of nature”
“Гамлет: Не сыграете ли вы на этой дудке? Гильденстерн: Мой принц, я не умею. Гамлет: Я вас прошу. Гильденстерн: Поверьте мне, я не умею. Гамлет: Я вас умоляю. Гильденстерн: Я и держать ее не умею, мой принц. Гамлет: Это так же легко, как лгать; управляйте этими отверстиями при помощи пальцев, дышите в нее ртом, и она заговорит красноречивейшей музыкой. Видите — вот это лады. Гильденстерн: Но я не могу извлечь из них никакой гармонии; я не владею этим искусством. Гамлет: Вот видите, что за негодную вещь вы из меня делаете? На мне вы готовы играть; вам кажется, что мои лады вы знаете; вы хотели бы исторгнуть сердце моей тайны; вы хотели бы испытать от самой низкой моей ноты до самой вершины моего звука; а вот в этом маленьком снаряде — много музыки, отличный голос; однако вы не можете сделать так, чтобы он заговорил. Черт возьми, или, по-вашему, на мне легче играть, чем на дудке?”
“Ay,sir;to be honest,as this world goes,is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.”
topics: honesty
“if I be a child of God, I must be like him, even in the matter of creative energy.”
“...the loves of the noble wife, the great-souled mother, and the true sister flow from a single root.... they are all but glints on the ruffled waters of humanity of the one, changeless, enduring Light.”
“For repose is not the end of education; its end is a noble unrest, an ever renewed awaking from the dead, a ceaseless questioning of the past for the interpretation of the future, an urging on of the motions of life, which had better far be accelerated into fever, than retarded into lethargy.”
― George MacDonald ,
from A Dish of Orts
“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.”
“I maun hae buiks. I wad get the newspapers whiles, but no aften, for they’re a sair loss o’ precious time. Ye see they tell ye things afore they’re sure, an’ ye hae to spen’ yer time the day readin’ what ye’ll hae to spen’ yer time the morn readin’ oot again; an’ ye may as weel bide till the thing’s sattled a wee.”
“THE SHADOWS Table of Contents Old Ralph Rinkelmann made his living by comic sketches, and all but lost it again by tragic poems. So he was just the man to be chosen king of the fairies, for in Fairyland the sovereignty is elective. It is no doubt very strange that fairies should desire to have a mortal king; but the fact is, that with all their knowledge and power, they cannot get rid of the feeling that some men are greater than they are, though they can neither fly nor play tricks. So at such times as there happens to be twice the usual number of sensible electors, such a man as Ralph Rinkelmann gets to be chosen. They”
“The more people trust in God, the less will they trust their own judgments, or interfere with the ordering of events.”
“Only a pure heart can understand, and a pure heart is one that sends out ready hands.”
“Но все равно; Хотя бы Геркулес весь мир разнес, А кот мяучит, и гуляет пес”
“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.”
“Где смех, там плач, — они дружнее всех; Легко смеется плач и плачет смех.”
“Like a man to double business bound I stand in pause where I shall first begin And both neglect”
“Ho, mia Dio! Oni povus enfermi min en ŝelon de nukso kaj mi rigardus min kiel reĝon de vastegaj spacoj, se nur miaj malbonaj sonĝoj min ne turmentus.”
topics: esperanto
“To my sick soul (as sin’s true nature is) Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss. So full of artless jealousy is guilt, It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.”
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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.