Inspirational Quotes by George MacDonald
“To confess uprightness in one of the opposite party seemed to most men to involve treachery to their own.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
“It is not betrayal of feeling, but avoidance of duty, that constitutes weakness.”
“She was beginning to learn that a man may be right, although the creed for which he is ready to die may contain much that is wrong.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
topics: creed
“For the best men and the weightiest questions are never seen in their time, save by the few.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
topics: weighty-questions
“If you turn your face to the Sun, my boy, your soul will, when you come to die, feel like an autumn, with the golden fruits of the earth hanging in rich clusters ready to be gathered – not like a winter. You may feel ever so worn, but you will not feel withered. You will die in peace, hoping for the spring – and such a spring!”
“No man can rid him of himself and live, for that involves an impossibility. But he can rid himself of that haunting shadow of his own self, which he has pampered and fed upon shadowy lies, until it is bloated and black with pride and folly. When that demon-king of shades is once cast out, and the man's house is possessed of God instead, then first he finds his true substantial self, which is the servant- nay, the child- of God. To rid you of yourself you must offer it again to Him who made it. Be empty so that He may fill you.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
“Good luck “You will be the better for it,” he returned. “I believe I’ve allus been the better for any trouble as ever I had to go through with. I couldn’t quite say the same for every bit of good luck I had; leastways, I consider trouble the best luck a man can have.” Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood, ch. 33”
“Hate will sharpen observation, affording opportunity for many a shrewd guess, and the construction of clever and false theories, but will leave the observer blind to the whole.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
“[35] Caelum non animum mutant The man who is not content where he is, would never have been content somewhere else, though he might have complained less. Donal Grant, ch. 31”
“Duty cannot bring his men to hand-to-hand conflict with the same power as Queen Love.”
― George MacDonald ,
from The Last Castle
“It is not the high summer alone that is God’s. The winter also is His. And into His winter He came to visit us. And all man’s winters are His – the winter of our poverty, the winter of our sorrow, the winter of our unhappiness – even “the winter of our discontent.” Adela Cathcart, vol. 1, ch. 2”
“The good man never wrote or read a sermon, but talked to his people as one who would meet what was in them with what was in him.”
“Doorkeepers He was not merely of the salt of the earth, but of the leaven of the kingdom, contributing more to the true life of the world than many a thousand far more widely known and honoured. Such as this man are the chief springs of thought, feeling, inquiry, action, in their neighbourhood; they radiate help and breathe comfort; they reprove, they counsel, they sympathize; in a word, they are doorkeepers of the house of God. Constantly upon its threshold, and every moment pushing the door to peep in, they let out radiance enough to keep the hearts of men believing in the light. They make an atmosphere about them in which spiritual things can thrive, and out of their school often come men who do greater things, better they cannot do, than they. Malcolm, ch.”
“What is the matter with your master?" George asked Dawtie as they bounced along toward Potlurg. "God knows, sir." "What is the use of telling me that? I want you to tell me what YOU know." "I don't know anything, sir.”
“However strange it may well seem, to do one's duty will make anyone conceited who only does it sometimes. Those who do it always would as soon think of being conceited of eating their dinner as of doing their duty. What honest boy would pride himself on not picking pockets?”
topics: wisdom
“By obedience, I intend no kind of obedience to man, or submission to authority claimed by man or community of men. I mean obedience to the will of the Father, however revealed in our conscience.”
“Here lies David Elginbrod Have mercy on my soul, dear God, As I would ye if I were God And ye were David Elginbrod.”
“We must remember that God is not occupied with a grand toy of worlds and suns and planets, of attractions and repulsions, of agglomerations and crystallizations, of forces and waves; that these but constitute a portion of his workshops and tools for the bringing out of righteous men and women to fill his house of love withal.”
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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.