Compassion is nothing one feels with the intellect alone. Compassion is particular; it is never general. Madeleine L'Engle More Quotes by Madeleine L'Engle More Quotes From Madeleine L'Engle A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe. Madeleine L'Engle starsreadingbook 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 beautifullifechildren 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 desirelove-isprofound Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth. Madeleine L'Engle paintwritingworld I wish that we worried more about asking the right questions instead of being so hung up on finding answers. Madeleine L'Engle askinganswerswish In art we are once again able to do all the things we have forgotten; we are able to walk on water; we speak to the angels who call us; we move, unfettered, among the stars. Madeleine L'Engle starsartmoving We do not love each other without changing each other. Madeleine L'Engle love-each-other 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 storieswritingbook A long-term marriage has to move beyond chemistry to compatibility, to friendship, to companionship. It is certainly not that passion disappears, but that it is conjoined with other ways of love. Madeleine L'Engle passionlongmoving The journey homewards. Coming home. That's what it's all about. The journey to the coming of the Kingdom. That's probably the chief difference between the Christian and the secular artist--the purpose of the work, be it story or music or painting, is to further the coming of the kingdom, to make us aware of our status as children of God, and to turn our feet toward home. Madeleine L'Engle christianhomechildren 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 Madeleine L'Engle punishmentlongbelieve Our story is never written in isolation. We do not act in a one-man play. We can do nothing that does not affect other people, no matter how loudly we say, "It's my own business. Madeleine L'Engle playmenpeople When I have something to say that I think will be too difficult for adults, I write it in a book for children. Children are excited by new ideas; they have not yet closed the doors and windows of their imaginations. Provided the story is good... nothing is too difficult for children. Madeleine L'Engle writingbookchildren Rather than feeling lost and unimportant and meaningless, set against galaxies which go beyond the reach of the furthest telescopes, I feel that my life has meaning. Perhaps I should feel insignificant, but instead I feel a soaring in my heart that the God who could create all this — and out of nothing — can still count the hairs of my head. Madeleine L'Engle hairfeelingsheart 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 painstarssong Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith. Faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically. Madeleine L'Engle storiesdoelittles Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous. Madeleine L'Engle doefactspeople To pray is to listen, to move through my own chattering to God, to that place where I can be silent and listen to what God may have to say. Madeleine L'Engle prayermaymoving When I am grappling with ideas which are radical enough to upset grown-ups, then I am likely to put these ideas into a story which will be marketed for children, because children understand what their parents have rejected and forgotten. Madeleine L'Engle parentchildrenideas Love isn't how you feel. It's what you do. I've never had a feeling in my life. As a matter of fact, I matter only with earth people. Madeleine L'Engle earthfeelingspeople
