Inspirational Quotes by George MacDonald
“How many things are there in the world in which the wisest of us can ill descry the hand of God! Who not knowing could read the lily in its bulb, the great oak in the pebble-like acorn? God’s beginnings do not look like his endings, but they are like; the oak is in the acorn, though we cannot see it.”
“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?”
“Полоний: Принц, я их приму сообразно их заслугам. Гамлет: Черта с два, милейший, много лучше! Если принимать каждого по заслугам, то кто избежит кнута? Примите их согласно с собственной честью и достоинством; чем меньше они заслуживают, тем больше славы вашей доброте”
“Like a man to double business bound I stand in pause where I shall first begin And both neglect”
“...Let Hercules himself do what he may, The cat will mew and dog will have his day.”
“The kingdom of heaven is not come, even when God’s will is our law: it is come when God’s will is our will.”
“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.”
“That is why hardships, troubles, disappointments, and all kinds of pain and suffering, are sent to so many of us. We are so full of ourselves, and feel so grand, that we should never come to know what poor creatures we are, never begin to do better, but for the knock-down blows that the loving God gives us. We do not like them, but he does not spare us for that. A Rough Shaking, ch.”
“Only a pure heart can understand, and a pure heart is one that sends out ready hands.”
“So, teaching him only that which she loved, not that which she had been taught, Janet read to Gibbie of Jesus, and talked to him of Jesus, until at length his whole soul was full of the Man, of His doings, of His words, of His thoughts, of His life. Almost before he knew, he was trying to fashion his life after that of the Master. Janet had no inclination to trouble her own head, or Gibbie's heart, with what men call the plan of salvation. It was enough to her to find that he followed her Master.”
“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.”
“The more people trust in God, the less will they trust their own judgments, or interfere with the ordering of events.”
“Червь — истинный император по части пищи. Мы откармливаем всех прочих тварей, чтобы откормить себя, а себя откармливаем для червей. И жирный король и сухопарый нищий — это только разве смены, два блюда, но к одному столу, конец таков”
“Alas, poor Yorick!—I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times;”
“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.”
“...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.”
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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.