George MacDonald's Quotes

To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.

Where there is no choice, we do well to make no difficulty.

The first thing a kindness deserves is acceptance, the second, transmission.

To have what we want is riches; but to be able to do without is power.

The more I work with the body, keeping my assumptions in a temporary state of reservation, the more I appreciate and sympathize with a given disease. The body no longer appears as a sick or irrational demon, but as a process with its own inner logic and wisdom.

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.

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.

Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly.

It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think he must prefer quality to quantity.

A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it.

It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down.

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.

Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other.

How strange this fear of death is! We are never frightened at a sunset.

I find that doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.

You can't live on amusement. It is the froth on water - an inch deep and then the mud.

Attitudes are more important than facts.

Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.

Anything large enough for a wish to light upon, is large enough to hang a prayer upon.

Many a thief is a better man than many a clergyman, and miles nearer to the gate of the kingdom.

The principle part of faith is patience.

Afflictions are but the shadows of God's wings.