The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition) Quotes

“Never, my little one, hide anything from those that love you. Never let anything that makes itself a nest in your heart, grow into a secret, for then at once it will begin to eat a hole in it.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald: The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess And Curdie, Lilith, Phantastes, Parables, Far Above Rubies and More

“Similarly, there are multitudes who lose their lives pondering what they ought to believe, while something lies at their door waiting to be done, and rendering it impossible for him who makes it wait, ever to know what to believe.”
― George MacDonald, Collected Works of George MacDonald

“…for nothing is ever so mischievous in its own place as it is out of it;”
― George MacDonald, Collected Works of George MacDonald

“Give me a chair and a table, fire enough to keep me from shivering, the few books I like best and writing materials, and I am absolutely content.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“Sad-hearted, be at peace: the snowdrop lies     Buried in sepulchre of ghastly snow;”
― George MacDonald, The Collected Works of George MacDonald: The Complete Works

“It is not the hysterical alone for whom the great dash of cold water is good.
All who dream life, instead of living it,
require some similar shock.”
― George MacDonald, Complete Works of George MacDonald

“What a hell of horror, I thought, to wander alone, a bare existence never going out of itself, never widening its life in another life, but, bound with the cords of its poor peculiarities, lying an eternal prisoner in the dungeon of its own being! I”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald

“The part of philanthropist is indeed a dangerous one; and the man who would do his neighbour good must first study how not to do him evil, and must begin by pulling the beam out of his own eye.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald

“respectability to good impulses”
― George MacDonald, Complete Works of George MacDonald

“I learned that it is better, a thousand-fold, for a proud man to fall and be humbled, than to hold up his head in his pride and fancied innocence.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald: The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess And Curdie, Lilith, Phantastes, Parables, Far Above Rubies and More

“I doubt if wickedness does half as much harm as sectarianism, whether it be the sectarianism of the church or of dissent, the sectarianism whose virtue is condescension, or the sectarianism whose vice is pride. Division has done more to hide Christ from the view of men, than all the infidelity that has ever been spoken. It is the half-Christian clergy of every denomination that are the main cause of the so-called failure of the Church of Christ.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald

“That is, we are responsible only for our actions, not for their results. Trust first in God, then in John Day.”
― George MacDonald, Collected Works of George MacDonald

“They say I must repent and be sorry for my sins," said he. "I have been trying very hard; but I can't think of any, except once that I gave Gog" (his Welsh pony) "such a beating because he would go where I didn't want him. But he's forgotten it long ago; and I gave him two feeds of corn after it, and so somehow I can't feel very sorry now. What shall I do?—But that's not what I mind most. It always seems to me it would be so much grander of God to say: 'Come along, never mind. I'll make you good. I can't wait till you are good; I love you so much.'" His own words were too much for Harry, and he burst into tears at the thought of God being so kind. Euphra, instead of trying to comfort him, cried too. Thus they continued for some time, Harry with his head on her knees, and she kindly fondling it with her distressed hands. Harry was the first to recover; for his was the April time, when rain clears the heavens. All at once he sprung to his feet, and exclaimed: "Only think, Euphra! What if, after all, I should find out that God is as kind as you are!" How Euphra's heart smote her! "Dear Harry," answered she, "God must be a great deal kinder than I am. I have not been kind to you at all." "Don't say that, Euphra. I shall be quite content if God is as kind as you.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“The homily which Mrs. Elton read at prayers that evening, bore upon the same subject nominally as the chapter that preceded it—that of election; a doctrine which in the Bible asserts the fact of God's choosing certain persons for the specific purpose of receiving first, and so communicating the gifts of his grace to the whole world; but which, in the homily referred to, was taken to mean the choice of certain persons for ultimate salvation, to the exclusion of the rest. They were sitting in silence after the close, when Harry started up suddenly, saying: "I don't want God to love me, if he does not love everybody;" and, bursting into tears, hurried out of the room. Mrs. Elton was awfully shocked at his wickedness. Euphra, hastened after him; but he would not return, and went supperless to bed. Euphra, however, carried him some supper. He sat up in bed and ate it with the tears in his eyes. She kissed him, and bade him good night; when, just as she was leaving the room, he broke out with: "But only think, Euphra, if it should be true! I would rather not have been made." "It is not true," said Euphra, in whom a faint glimmer of faith in God awoke for the sake of the boy whom she loved—awoke to comfort him, when it would not open its eyes for herself. "No, Harry dear, if there is a God at all, he is not like that." "No, he can't be," said Harry, vehemently, and with the brightness of a sudden thought; "for if he were like that, he wouldn't be a God worth being; and that couldn't be, you know." Euphra knelt by her bedside, and prayed more hopefully than for many days before. She prayed that God would let her know that he was not an idol of man's invention.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“What do you think, then, Mrs. Elton, my dear madam, that a clergyman ought to preach?" "I think, Mr. Arnold, that he ought to preach salvation by faith in the merits of the Saviour." "Oh! of course, of course. We shall not differ about that. Everybody believes that." "I doubt it very much.—He ought, in order that men may believe, to explain the divine plan, by which the demands of divine justice are satisfied, and the punishment due to sin averted from the guilty, and laid upon the innocent; that, by bearing our sins, he might make atonement to the wrath of a justly offended God; and so—" "Now, my dear madam, permit me to ask what right we, the subjects of a Supreme Authority, have to inquire into the reasons of his doings? It seems to me—I should be sorry to offend any one, but it seems to me quite as presumptuous as the present arrogance of the lower classes in interfering with government, and demanding a right to give their opinion, forsooth, as to the laws by which they shall be governed; as if they were capable of understanding the principles by which kings rule, and governors decree justice.—I believe I quote Scripture." "Are we, then, to remain in utter ignorance of the divine character?" "What business have we with the divine character? Or how could we understand it? It seems to me we have enough to do with our own. Do I inquire into the character of my sovereign? All we have to do is, to listen to what we are told by those who are educated for such studies, whom the Church approves, and who are appointed to take care of the souls committed to their charge; to teach them to respect their superiors, and to lead honest, hard-working lives.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“explain the divine plan, by which the demands of divine justice are satisfied, and the punishment due to sin averted from the guilty, and laid upon the innocent; that, by bearing our sins, he might make atonement to the wrath of a justly offended God; and so—" "Now, my dear madam, permit me to ask what right we, the subjects of a Supreme Authority, have to inquire into the reasons of his doings? It seems to me—I should be sorry to offend any one, but it seems to me quite as presumptuous as the present arrogance of the lower classes in interfering with government, and demanding a right to give their opinion, forsooth, as to the laws by which they shall be governed; as if they were capable of understanding the principles by which kings rule, and governors decree justice.—I believe I quote Scripture." "Are we, then, to remain in utter ignorance of the divine character?" "What business have we with the divine character? Or how could we understand it? It seems to me we have enough to do with our own. Do I inquire into the character of my sovereign? All we have to do is, to listen to what we are told by those who are educated for such studies, whom the Church approves, and who are appointed to take care of the souls committed to their charge; to teach them to respect their superiors, and to lead honest, hard-working lives.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“Hugh could not help rejoicing that not merely the Bible, but the Church-service as well, had been fixed beyond the reach of such degenerating influences as those which had operated on the more material embodiments of religion; for otherwise such would certainly have been the first to operate, and would have found the greatest scope in any alteration. We may hope that nothing but a true growth in such religion as needs and seeks new expression for new depth and breadth of feeling, will ever be permitted to lay the hand of change upon it—a hand, otherwise, of desecration and ruin.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“Then first I knew the delight of being lowly; of saying to myself, “I am what I am, nothing more.” “I have failed,” I said, “I have lost myself — would it had been my shadow.” I looked round: the shadow was nowhere to be seen. Ere long, I learned that it was not myself, but only my shadow, that I had lost. I learned that it is better, a thousand-fold, for a proud man to fall and be humbled, than to hold up his head in his pride and fancied innocence. I learned that he that will be a hero, will barely be a man; that he that will be nothing but a doer of his work, is sure of his manhood. In nothing was my ideal lowered, or dimmed, or grown less precious; I only saw it too plainly, to set myself for a moment beside it. Indeed, my ideal soon became my life; whereas, formerly, my life had consisted in a vain attempt to behold, if not my ideal in myself, at least myself in my ideal. Now, however, I took, at first, what perhaps was a mistaken pleasure, in despising and degrading myself. Another self seemed to arise, like a white spirit from a dead man, from the dumb and trampled self of the past. Doubtless, this self must again die and be buried, and again, from its tomb, spring a winged child; but of this my history as yet bears not the record. Self will come to life even in the slaying of self; but there is ever something deeper and stronger than it, which will emerge at last from the unknown abysses of the soul: will it be as a solemn gloom, burning with eyes? or a clear morning after the rain? or a smiling child, that finds itself nowhere, and everywhere?”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“don't blame you for not being able to believe it, but I do blame you for fancying such a child would try to deceive you. Why should she? Depend upon it, she told you all she knew. Until you had found a better way of accounting for it all, you might at least have been more sparing of your judgment.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“Nothing almost sees miracles
But misery.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“All that the children want is their Father.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“For all clergymen whom I had yet met, regarded mankind and their interests solely from the clerical point of view, seeming far more desirous that a man should be a good church man, as they called it, than that he should love God.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“Alas, how easily things go wrong! A sigh too much, or a kiss too long, And there follows a mist and a weeping rain, And life is never the same again.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“There is more of the marvellous in an old library than ever any magic could work!”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“Feeding troughs for the sheep there might be many in the fields, and they might or might not be presided over by servants of the true Shepherd, but the fold they were not!”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“Satan quotes Scripture as a verbal authority; our Lord meets him with a Scripture by the truth in which he regulates his conduct.”
― George MacDonald, The Complete Works of George MacDonald (Illustrated Edition): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith…

“It is yet better to perceive a hidden good than a hidden evil.”
― George MacDonald, Complete Works of George MacDonald

“sweeter than joy itself, for the heart of the laugh was love.”
― George MacDonald, Complete Works of George MacDonald

“Therefore I have been training him for a work that must soon be done. I was near losing him, and had to send my pigeon. Had he not shot it, that would have been better; but he repented, and that shall be as good in the end.”
― George MacDonald, Complete Works of George MacDonald

“They grew weary, and sat down on the rocky floor, for wait they would — indeed, wait they must. Each set his lamp by his knee, and watched it die. Slowly it sank, dulled, looked lazy and stupid. But ever as it sank and dulled, the image in his mind of the Lady of Light grew stronger and clearer. Together the two lamps panted and shuddered. First one, then the other went out, leaving for a moment a great red, evil-smelling snuff. Then all was the blackness of darkness up to their very hearts and everywhere around them. Was it? No. Far away — it looked miles away — shone one minute faint point of green light — where, who could tell? They only knew that it shone. It grew larger, and seemed to draw nearer, until at last, as they watched with speechless delight and expectation, it seemed once more within reach of an outstretched hand. Then it spread and melted away as before, and there were eyes — and a face — and a lovely form — and lo! the whole cavern blazing with lights innumerable, and gorgeous, yet soft and interfused — so blended, indeed, that the eye had to search and see in order to separate distinct spots of special colour.”
― George MacDonald, Complete Works of George MacDonald