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George MacDonald Quotes

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A man's real belief is that which he lives by. What a man believes is the thing he does, not the thing he thinks.

A man's real belief is that which he lives by. What a man believes is the thing he does, not the thing he thinks.

George MacDonald
Real, Believe, Men

No words can express how much the world owes to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in the wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through fire. The greatest poets have "learned in suffering what they taught in song." In bonds Bunyan lived the allegory that he afterwards wrote, and we may thank Bedford Jail for the Pilgrim's Progress. Take comfort, afflicted Christian! When God is about to make pre-eminent use of a person, He put them in the fire.

George MacDonald
Bible, God, Christian

It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen.

George MacDonald
Power, Men, People

I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.

George MacDonald
Thinking, Born, Made
George MacDonald (2015). “The Complete Novels of George Macdonald (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood, Wilfrid Cumbermede and many more”, p.1848, e-artnow

It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down. For the needs of today we have corresponding strength given. For the morrow we are told to trust. It is not ours yet. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear.

George MacDonald
Men, Worry, Needs

Never tell a child 'you have a soul.' Teach him, you are a soul; you have a body.

George MacDonald
Children, Soul, Body

Any faith in Him, however small, is better than any belief about Him, however great.

George MacDonald
God, Faith, Believe

The love of our neighbor is the only door out of the dungeon of self.

George MacDonald
Love, Doors, Self
George MacDonald (1887). “God's Words to His Children: Sermons Spoken and Unspoken”

Forgiveness unleashes joy. It brings peace. It washes the slate clean. It sets all the highest values of love in motion.

George MacDonald
Forgiveness, Joy, Clean

Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.

George MacDonald
Lying, Liberty, Likes
George Macdonald (1870). “The Miracles of Our Lord”, p.56

Past tears are present strength.

George MacDonald
Past, Tears
James Hogg, R. L. Stevenson, George MacDonald (2014). “Scottish Supernatural Classics: The Three Perils of Man, Thrawn Janet and Other Stories, Phantastes and Lilith”, p.868, Palimpsest Book Production Limited

In whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably, or succeed more miserably.

George MacDonald
Men, Doe, Succeed
George MacDonald (2007). “Unspoken Sermons”, p.248, Cosimo, Inc.

God is nearer to you than any thought or feeling of yours... Do not be afraid.

George MacDonald
Jesus, Feelings, Jesus Christ
George MacDonald (2015). “The Complete Novels of George Macdonald (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood, Wilfrid Cumbermede and many more”, p.1847, e-artnow

Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have, this day, done one thing because He said, Do it! or once abstained because He said, Do not do it! It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe, in Him, if you do not do anything He tells you.

George MacDonald
Believe, Asking, Done
George Macdonald (2012). “Unspoken Sermons Series I, II, and III”, p.212, Simon and Schuster

The truly wise talk little about religion and are not given to taking sides on doctrinal issues. When they hear people advocating or opposing the claims of this or that party in the church, they turn away with a smile such as men yield to the talk of children. They have no time, they would say, for that kind of thing. They have enough to do in trying to faithfully practice what is beyond dispute.

George MacDonald
Wise, Children, Party

All things are possible with God, but all things are not easy.

George MacDonald
Easy, All Things
George Macdonald (2012). “Unspoken Sermons Series I, II, and III”, p.162, Simon and Schuster

"But if God is so good as you represent Him, and if He knows all that we need, and better far than we do ourselves, why should it be necessary to ask Him for anything?" I answer, "What if He knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God's idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need - the need of Himself?"

George MacDonald
God, Christian, Religious
George Macdonald (2012). “Unspoken Sermons Series I, II, and III”, p.128, Simon and Schuster

Do not measure God's mind by your own.

George MacDonald
God, Mind
George MacDonald (1871). “David Elginbrod”, p.399

It is by loving and not by being loved that one can come nearest to the soul of another.

George MacDonald
Love, Inspirational, Soul
George MacDonald (2015). “The Complete Works of George MacDonald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Theological Writings & Essays (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, England’s Antiphon, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, The Light Princess, The Golden Key and many more”, p.494, e-artnow

The first thing in all progress is to leave something behind.

George MacDonald
Progress, Firsts, Behinds
George MacDonald (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated)”, p.13036, Delphi Classics

Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness.

George MacDonald
Inspirational, Stress, Meditation Practice

Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it.

George MacDonald
God, Men, Giving
George MacDonald (2015). “The Complete Works of George MacDonald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Theological Writings & Essays (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, England’s Antiphon, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, The Light Princess, The Golden Key and many more”, p.13293, e-artnow

Love makes everything lovely; hate concentrates itself on the one thing hated.

George MacDonald
Hate, Lovely, Hated
George Macdonald (1865). “Alec Forbes of Howglen”, p.89

God left the world unfinished for man to work his skill upon. He left the electricity still in the cloud, the oil still in the earth. How often we look upon God as our last and feeblest resource! We go to Him because we have nowhere else to go. And then we learn that the storms of life have driven us, not upon the rocks, but into the desired haven.

George MacDonald
Adversity, Men, Clouds

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.

George MacDonald
Love, Life, Friendship
"The Marquis of Lossie".

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