Inspirational Quotes by George MacDonald
“But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my heart;but it is no matter.”
“See you now your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth; and thus do we of wisdom and of reach, with windlasses and with assays of bias, by indirections find directions out.”
topics: deception
“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”
“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”
“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
“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.”
“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.”
“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”
“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!”
“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.”
“There is a childhood into which we have to grow, just as there is a childhood which we must leave behind; a childlikeness which is the highest gain of humanity, and a childishness from which but few of those who are counted the wisest among men, have freed themselves in their imagined progress towards the reality of things.”
“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.”
“Nor do we know how much of the pleasures even of life we owe to the intermingled sorrows. Joy cannot unfold the deepest truths, although deepest truth must be deepest joy. Cometh white-robed Sorrow, stooping and wan, and flingeth wide the doors she may not enter. Almost we linger with Sorrow for very love.”
“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
“It seemed quite natural that the little lady should be there; for many things we never could believe, have only to happen, and then there is nothing strange about them.”
― George MacDonald ,
from Cross Purposes
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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.