The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions. Madeleine L'Engle More Quotes by Madeleine L'Engle More Quotes From Madeleine L'Engle Art is not a mirror but an icon. It takes the chaos in which we live and shows us structure and pattern, not the structure of conformity which imprisons but the structure which liberates, Madeleine L'Engle iconsmirrorsart You learn to write by doing it. Madeleine L'Engle writing I know writers who write only when inspiration comes. How would Isaac Stern play if he played the violin only when he felt like it? He would be lousy. Madeleine L'Engle inspirationplaywriting Stories have a richness that goes way beyond fact. 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. Madeleine L'Engle storieswritingbook During the long drag of years before our youngest child went to school, my love for my family and my need to write were in acute conflict. The problem was really that I put two things first. My husband and children came first. So did my writing. Bump. Madeleine L'Engle husbandwritingchildren I can't think of one great human being in the arts, or in history generally, who conformed, who succeeded, as education experts tell us children must succeed, with his peer group. Madeleine L'Engle successchildrenart As human beings, the closest we can get to truth is through story. Madeleine L'Engle truth-ishumansstories And sometimes when we listen, we are led into places we do not expect, into adventures we do not always understand. Madeleine L'Engle adventuresometimes If you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Madeleine L'Engle wantwritingneeds Be aware that rigidity imprisons. Madeleine L'Engle rigidity Women must be very gentle with men as they, as well as women, seek to regain the lost wholeness for which they were destined. Madeleine L'Engle gentlelostmen When we can play with the unself-conscious concentration of a child, this is: art: prayer: love. Madeleine L'Engle prayerchildrenart The novelist helps us to see things we might not notice otherwise. Madeleine L'Engle novelistshelpingmight science never threatens God - it opens up more possibilities. Madeleine L'Engle possibilitygodscience There's nothing more physically exhausting than a sense of failure. Madeleine L'Engle exhaustingfailure I rebel against death, yet I know that it is how I respond to death's inevitability that is going to make me less or more fully alive. Madeleine L'Engle rebelaliveknows The degree of talent, the size of the gift, is immaterial. All artists must listen, but not all hear great symphonies, see wide canvasses, conceive complex, character-filled novels. No Madeleine L'Engle symphonyartistcharacter If I have something I want to say that is too difficult for adults to swallow, then I will write it in a book for children. Madeleine L'Engle writingbookchildren To write for children at all is an act of faith. Madeleine L'Engle literaturewritingchildren if a book is not good enough for a grownup, it is not good enough for a child. Madeleine L'Engle not-good-enoughbookchildren
