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Madeleine LEngle Quotes - Page 2

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Agape love is...profound concern for the well-being of another, without any desire to control that other, to be thanked by that other, or to enjoy the process.

Agape love is...profound concern for the well-being of another, without any desire to control that other, to be thanked by that other, or to enjoy the process.

Madeleine L'Engle
Love Is, Profound, Desire

There are times when I feel that he has withdrawn from me, and I have often given him cause, but Easter is always the answer to My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!

Madeleine L'Engle
Easter, Answers, Causes
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “The Irrational Season”, p.88, Open Road Media

I think that all artists, regardless of degree of talent, are a painful, paradoxical combination of certainty and uncertainty, of arrogance and humility, constantly in need of reassurance, and yet with a stubborn streak of faith in their own validity no matter what.

Madeleine L'Engle
Writing, Humility, Artist
"A Circle of Quiet (Crosswicks Journals, Book 1)". Book by Madeleine L'Engle, 1971.

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.

Madeleine L'Engle
Life, Beautiful, Children
Twitter post from Apr 21, 2016

When I look at the galaxies on a clear night - when I look at the incredible brilliance of creation, and think that this is what God is like, then instead of feeling intimidated and diminished by it, I am enlarged . . . I rejoice that I am a part of it.

Madeleine L'Engle
Faith, Night, Thinking
Madeleine L'Engle (1983). “And it was Good, Reflections on Beginnings”, Harold Shaw Pub

We do not love each other without changing each other.

Madeleine L'Engle
Love Each Other
Madeleine L'Engle (1983). “And it was Good, Reflections on Beginnings”, Harold Shaw Pub

I do not think that I will ever reach a stage when I will say, "This is what I believe. Finished." What I believe is alive ... and open to growth

Madeleine L'Engle
Motivational, Believe, Thinking

God promised to make you free. He never promised to make you independent.

Madeleine L'Engle
Independent
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “The Irrational Season”, p.62, Open Road Media

A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.

Madeleine L'Engle
Stars, Book, Reading
Madeleine L'Engle (2012). “A Wrinkle in Time: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition”, p.222, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

But unless we are creators, we are not fully alive.

Madeleine L'Engle
Creativity, Alive, Creator
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, p.75, Convergent Books

Conversion for me was not a Damascus Road experience. I slowly moved into an intellectual acceptance of what my intuition had always known.

Madeleine L'Engle
Acceptance, Intellectual, Intuition

Human beings are the only creatures who are allowed to fail. If an ant fails, it's dead. But we're allowed to learn from our mistakes and from our failures. And that's how I learn, by falling flat on my face and picking myself up and starting all over again.

Madeleine L'Engle
Mistake, Fall, Ants

Yes! I dare disturb the universe.

Madeleine L'Engle
Dare, Universe

Creativity comes from accepting that you're not safe, from being absolutely aware, and from letting go of control. It's a matter of seeing everything - even when you want to shut your eyes.

Madeleine L'Engle
Letting Go, Creativity, Eye

If it can be verified, we don't need faith... Faith is for that which lies on the other side of reason. Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.

Madeleine L'Engle
Faith, Lying, Joy
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, p.21, Convergent Books

Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.

Madeleine L'Engle
Depression, Uplifting, Light
Madeleine L'Engle (2008). “A Ring of Endless Light: The Austin Family Chronicles”, p.183, Macmillan

The earth will never be the same again Rock, water, tree, iron, share this greif As distant stars participate in the pain. A candle snuffed, a falling star or leaf, A dolphin death, O this particular loss A Heaven-mourned; for if no angel cried If this small one was tossed away as dross, The very galaxies would have lied. How shall we sing our love's song now In this strange land where all are born to die? Each tree and leaf and star show how The universe is part of this one cry, Every life is noted and is cherished, and nothing loved is ever lost or perished.

Madeleine L'Engle
Song, Stars, Pain

When the artist is truly the servant of the work, the work is better than the artist; Shakespeare knew how to listen to his work, and so he often wrote better than he could write; Bach composed more deeply, more truly than he knew, Rembrandt's brush put more of the human spirit on canvas than Rembrandt could comprehend. When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.

Madeleine L'Engle
Writing, Artist, Way

My writing knows more than I know. What a writer must do is listen to her book. It might take you where you don’t expect to go. That’s what happens when you write stories. You listen and you say ‘a ha,’ and you write it down. A lot of it is not planned, not conscious; it happens while you’re doing it. You know more about it after you’re done.

Madeleine L'Engle
Book, Writing, Stories

If we are not willing to fail we will never accomplish anything. All creative acts involve the risk of failure.

Madeleine L'Engle
Creative, Risk, Failing
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage”, p.109, Open Road Media

Remember the root word of humble and human is the same: humus: earth. We are dust. We are created; it is God who made us and not we ourselves. But we were made to be co-creators with our maker.

Madeleine L'Engle
Humble, Dust, Roots
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, p.112, Convergent Books

I like to take the time out to listen to the trees, much in the same way that I listen to a sea shell, holding my ear against the rough bark of the trunk, hearing the inner singing of the sap. It's a lovely sound, the beating of the heart of the tree.

Madeleine L'Engle
Heart, Sea, Tree
Madeleine L'Engle (1986). “A Stone for a Pillow”, Shaw

I cannot believe that God wants punishment to go on interminably any more than does a loving parent. The entire purpose of loving punishment is to teach, and it lasts only as long as is needed for the lesson. And the lesson is always love.

Madeleine L'Engle
Believe, Punishment, Long
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “The Irrational Season”, p.86, Open Road Media

God is over all things, under all things; outside all; within, but not enclosed; without, but not excluded; above, but not raised up; below; but not depressed; wholly above, presiding; wholly without, embracing; wholly within, filling.

Madeleine L'Engle
Faith, Filling, Raised
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art”, p.74, Convergent Books

It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand.

Madeleine L'Engle
Faith, Peace, Ubuntu
Madeleine L'Engle (2016). “The Summer of the Great-Grandmother”, p.15, Open Road Media

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