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. George MacDonald More Quotes by George MacDonald More Quotes From George MacDonald All about us, in earth and air, wherever the eye or ear can reach, there is a power ever breathing itself forth in signs, now in daisy, now in a wind-waft, a cloud, a sunset; a power that holds constant and sweetest relation with the dark and silent world within us. The same God who is in us, and upon whose tree we are the buds, if not yet the flowers, also is all about us- inside, the Spirit; outside, the Word. And the two are ever trying to meet in us. George MacDonald flowerinspirationfaith 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 libertylikeslying To try to be brave is to be brave. George MacDonald be-bravebravetrying Trust to God to weave your thread into the great web, though the pattern shows it not yet. George MacDonald threadpatternsshows The purposes of God point to one simple end-that we should be as he is, think the same thoughts, mean the same things, possess the same blessedness. George MacDonald simplegodmean You've got to save your own soul first, and then the souls of your neighbors if they will let you; and for that reason you must cultivate, not a spirit of criticism, but the talents that attract people to the hearing of the Word. George MacDonald criticismsoulpeople But for money and the need of it, there would not be half the friendship in the world. It is powerful for good if divinely used. Give it plenty of air and it is sweet as the hawthorn; shut it up and it cankers and breeds worms. George MacDonald moneysweetfriendship 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 godgivingmen I write, not for children,but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five. George MacDonald fiftywritingchildren ...it is so silly of people to fancy that old age means crookedness and witheredness and feebleness and sticks and spectacles and rheumatism and forgetfulness! It is so silly! Old age has nothing whatever to do with all that. The right old age means strength and beauty and mirth and courage and clear eyes and strong painless limbs. George MacDonald strongsillymean Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life. George MacDonald receiving-loveforgivenessgiving Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly. George MacDonald trusttragedyfriendship It is not the high summer alone that is God's. The winter also is His. And into His winter He came to visit us. And all man's winters are His - the winter of our poverty, the winter of our sorrow, the winter of our unhappiness - even 'the winter of our discontent. George MacDonald summerwintermen Not only then has each man his individual relation to God, but each man has his peculiar relation to God. George MacDonald peculiargodmen If God were not only to hear our prayers, as he does ever and always, but to answer them as we want them answered, he would not be God our Saviour but the ministering genius of our destruction. George MacDonald geniusprayerdoe I find the doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about his plans — I do not say for thinking about them. George MacDonald leaving-meobediencegod We profess to think Jesus the grandest and most glorious of men, yet hardly care to be like him. When we are offered his Spirit, that is, his very nature within us, for the asking, we will hardly take the trouble to ask for it. George MacDonald menjesusthinking My prayers, my God, flow from what I am not; I think thy answers make me what I am. George MacDonald prayeranswersthinking The first thing a kindness deserves is acceptance, the second, transmission. George MacDonald acceptancekindnessfirsts [God desires] not that He may say to them, "Look how mighty I am, and go down upon your knees and worship," for power alone was never yet worthy of prayer; but that He may say thus: "Look, my children, you will never be strong but with my strength. I have no other to give you. And that you can get only by trusting in me. I can not give it you any other way. There is no other way." George MacDonald strongprayerchildren
