Inspirational Quotes by George MacDonald
“It’s a pity that the rich have more freedom to hang or drown themselves than the rest of us Christians.”
topics: hamlet-act-5-scene-1
“Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.”
“When sorrows come, they don't come as lonely outposts, but swell in troops”
“She married:— O, most wicked speed, to post/With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!”
“The beauty of love is, that it does not take care of itself, but of the person loved.”
― George MacDonald ,
from Donal Grant
“The minister was an honest man so far as he knew himself and honesty, and did not relish this form of submission. But he did not ask himself where was the difference between accepting the word of man and accepting man's explanation of the word of God!”
― George MacDonald ,
from Donal Grant
“Come then, let us do something!” said Davie. “Come away,” rejoined Donal. “What shall we do first?” “I don't know: you must tell me, sir.” “What would you like best to do—I mean if you might do what you pleased?” Davie thought a little, then said: “I should like to write a book.” “What kind of a book?” “A beautiful story.” “Isn’t it just as well to read such a book? Why should you want to write one?” “Because then I should have it go just as I wanted it! I am always—almost always—disappointed with the thing that comes next. But if I wrote it myself, then I shouldn’t get tired of it; it would be what pleased me, and not what pleased somebody else.” “Well,” said Donal, after thinking for a moment, “suppose you begin to write a book!” “Oh, that will be fun!—much better than learning verbs and nouns!” “But the verbs and nouns are just the things that go to make a story—with not a few adjectives and adverbs, and a host of conjunctions; and, if it be a very moving story, a good many interjections! These all you have got to put together with good choice, or the story will not be one you would care to read.—Perhaps you had better not begin till I see whether you know enough about those verbs and nouns to do the thing decently.”
“Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd... Thou comest in such a questionable shape That I will speak to thee...”
topics: inspirational
“Most powerful of all powers in its holy insinuation is _being_. _To be_ is more powerful than even _to do_. Action _may_ be hypocrisy, but being is the thing itself, and is the parent of action.”
― George MacDonald ,
from Mary Marston
“Then had her envious heart rest, at least such rest as a heart full of envy and malice ever can have.”
“I am sorry I cannot think of a compliment to pay you-without lying, that is.”
― George MacDonald ,
from Lilith
“But there must be some poor!" I said. "I suppose there must be, but we never think of such people. When one goes poor, we forget him. That is how we keep rich. We mean to be rich always.”
― George MacDonald ,
from Lilith, a romance
“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”
“We fatten all the other creatures, to fatten ourselves, and we fatten ourselves for the worms. A fat king and a skinny beggar are only two different subterfuges, two dishes, but for one table - it's the end.”
“The world is like a picture with a golden background and we the figures in that picture. Until you step off the plane of the picture into the large dimensions of death you cannot see the gold. But we have reminders of it."-George MacDonald *Gold being Heaven *Picture being life”
“Ere thou ride, look well to thy girths,and as thou ridest say thy prayers, for it pleaseth not God that every man on the right side should live, and thou mayest find the presence in which thou standest change suddenly from that of mortal man to living God.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
“The demon has a name that is known among men, though it frightens few and draws many, alas! His name is Self, and he is the shadow of your own self. First he made you love him, which was evil, and now he has made you hate him, which is evil also. But if he be cast out and never more enter into your heart, but remain as a servant in your hall, then you will recover from this sickness, and be whole and sound, and will find the varlet serviceable.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
Group of Brands
© 2026 Bibleportal.com All rights reserved.
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.