George MacDonald quotes - page 6

If sin must be kept alive, then hell must be kept alive; but while I regard the smallest sin as infinitely loathsome, I do not believe that any being, never good enough to see the essential ugliness of sin, could sin so as to deserve such punishment. I am not now, however, dealing with the question of the duration of punishment, but with the idea of punishment itself; and would only say in passing, that the notion that a creature born imperfect, nay, born with impulses to evil not of his own generating, and which he could not help having, a creature to whom the true face of God was never presented, and by whom it never could have been seen, should be thus condemned, is as loathsome a lie against God as could find place in heart too undeveloped to understand what justice is, and too low to look up into the face of Jesus. (George MacDonald)
But tell me how it is that she could be so beautiful without any heart at all - without any place even for a heart to live in." "I cannot quite tell," she said; "but I am sure she would not look so beautiful if she did not take means to make herself look more beautiful than she is. And then, you know, you began by being in love with her before you saw her beauty ... But the chief thing that makes her beautiful is this: that, although she loves no man, she loves the love of any man; and when she finds one in her power, her desire to bewitch him and gain his love (not for the sake of his love either, but that she may be conscious anew of her own beauty, through the admiration he manifests), makes her very lovely-with a self-destructive beauty... View quote
George MacDonald
One difference between God's work and man's is, that, while God's work cannot mean more than he meant, man's must mean more than he meant. View quote
George MacDonald
Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness. View quote
George MacDonald
This is and has been the Fathers work from the beginning-to bring us into the home of His heart. View quote
George MacDonald
To try too hard to make people good is one way to make them worse. The only way to make them good is to be good, remembering well the beam and the mote. View quote
George MacDonald
No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. View quote
George MacDonald
God desires not that He may say to them, 'Look how mighty I am, and go down upon your knees and worship,' for power alone was never yet worthy of prayer but that He may say thus 'Look, my children, you will never be strong but with my strength. I have no other to give you. And that you can get only by trusting in me. I can not give it you any other way. There is no other way.' View quote
George MacDonald
But for money and the need of it, there would not be half the friendship in the world. It is powerful for good if divinely used. Give it plenty of air and it is sweet as the hawthorn shut it up and it cankers and breeds worms. View quote
George MacDonald
Faith is that which, knowing the Lord's will, goes and does it or, not knowing it, stands and waits, content in ignorance as in knowledge, because God wills neither pressing into the hidden future, nor careless of the knowledge which opens the path of action. View quote
George MacDonald
Beauty and sadness always go together. Nature thought beauty too rich to go forth Upon the earth without a meet alloy. (George MacDonald)
Where did you come from, baby dear Out of the everywhere into here. View quote
George MacDonald
Many a life has been injured by the constant expectation of death. It is life we have to do with, not death. The best preparation for the night is to work diligently while the day lasts. The best preparation for death is life. View quote
George MacDonald
God Himself - His thoughts, His will, His love, His judgments are men's home. To think His thoughts, to choose His will, to judge His judgments, and thus to know that He is in us, with us, is to be at home. And to pass through the valley of the shadow of death is the way home, but only thus, that as all changes have hitherto led us nearer to this home, the knowledge of God, so this greatest of all outward changes - for it is but an outward change - will surely usher us into a region where there will be fresh possibilities of drawing nigh in heart, soul, and mind to the Father of us all. View quote
George MacDonald
All that man sees has to do with man. Worlds cannot be without an intermundane relationship. The community of the centre of all creation suggests an interradiating connection and dependence of the parts. Else a grander idea is conceivable than that which is already embodied. View quote
George MacDonald
A fairytale, like a butterfly or a bee, helps itself on all sides, sips at every wholesome flower, and spoils not one. View quote
George MacDonald
Room to roam, but only one home For all the world to win. View quote
George MacDonald
If he be not a true man, he will draw evil out of the best; we need not mind how he treats any work of art! If he be a true man, he will imagine true things: what matter whether I meant them or not? View quote
George MacDonald
My tales may not be roses, but I will not boil them. View quote
George MacDonald
A man may well himself discover truth in what he wrote; for he was dealing all the time with things that came from thoughts beyond his own. View quote
George MacDonald
He brings hidden things out of the light of his own being into the light of ours. (George MacDonald)
It is there not so much to convey a meaning as to wake a meaning. If it do not even wake an interest, throw it aside. A meaning may be there, but it is not for you. View quote
George MacDonald
Thou goest thine, and I go mine - Many ways we wend; Many days, and many ways, Ending in one end. View quote
George MacDonald
A genuine work of art must mean many things; the truer its art, the more things it will mean. View quote
George MacDonald
All that man sees has to do with man. Worlds cannot be without an intermundane relationship. View quote
George MacDonald