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George MacDonald

George MacDonald Quotes

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Famous George MacDonald Quotes

“The region belonging to the pure intellect is straitened: the imagination labours to extend its territories, to give it room. She sweeps across the boarders, searching out new lands into which she may guide her plodding brother. The imagination is the light which redeems from the darkness for the eyes of the understanding. Novalis says, 'The imagination is the stuff of the intellect' -affords, that is, the material upon which the intellect works.”

GivingMayLightEyeStuffUnderstandingImaginationRoomsDarknessLandBrotherMaterialsPureIntellectGuidesLabourRegionsBelongingTerritory
Book:The Imagination: And Other Essays
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“O Christ, my life, possess me utterly. Take me and make a little Christ of me. If I am anything but thy father's son, 'Tis something not yet from the darkness won. Oh, give me light to live with open eyes. Oh, give me life to hope above all skies.”

IfsGivingLittlesLightEyeFatherChristDarknessSkySonGive MeTake MeOpen Eyes
Book:The Complete Works of George MacDonald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Theological Writings & Essays (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, England’s Antiphon, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, The Light Princess, The Golden Key and many more
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“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.”

IfsInspirationalGivingShouldHeartWould BeFriendshipKindnessFlowerMy FriendsAngelEncouragementCastsBe KindReal FriendsTrue FriendThink Of YouMy FriendshipGemsAbout FriendshipFriendship MemoriesAngelicOne Line FriendshipBest FriendshipFriendship DayRandom Acts Of KindnessThinking Of YouHappy FriendshipFriendship GardenSpiritual GiftsBeing A Good FriendI Think Of YouSpecial FriendKind ThoughtsLoving FriendsAngel FriendshipThinking LoveJust Thinking Of YouThinking Someone
Author:George MacDonald
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“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.”

MenWantGivingDoeHardGodLiteratureBest God
Book:The Complete Works of George MacDonald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Theological Writings & Essays (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, England’s Antiphon, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, The Light Princess, The Golden Key and many more
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“It is by loving, and not by being loved, that one can come nearest the soul of another; yea, that, where two love, it is the loving of each other, that originates and perfects and assures their blessedness. I knew that love gives to him that loveth, power over any soul beloved, even if that soul know him not, bringing him inwardly close to that spirit; a power that cannot be but for good; for in proportion as selfishness intrudes, the love ceases, and the power which springs therefrom dies. Yet all love will, one day, meet with its return.”

IfsKnowsGivingTwoSoulSpiritDiesReturnOne DaySpringCeaseSelfishnessProportionBeing LovedBlessednessTwo Loves
Author:George MacDonald
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“Remember, then, that whoever does not mean good is always in danger of harm. But I try to give everybody fair play, and those that are in the wrong are in far more need of it always than those who are in the right: they can afford to do without it.”

NeedsGivingTryingMeanDoePlayRememberDangerFairsHarmFair Play
Book:The Heart of George MacDonald: A One-Volume Collection of His Most Important Fiction, Essays, Sermons, Drama, and Biographical Information
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“Could you not give me some sign, or tell me something about you that never changes, or some other way to know you, or thing to know you by?" — "No, Curdie: that would be to keep you from knowing me. You must know me in quite another way from that. It would not be the least use to you or me either if I were to make you know me in that way. It would be but to know the sign of me — not to know me myself.”

IfsKnowsWayGivingUseWould BeKnowingGive MeKnow MeAnother WayNever Change
Book:Down the Chimney: 100+ Most Treasured Christmas Novels & Stories in One Volume (Illustrated): The Tailor of Gloucester, Little Women, Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, The Gift of the Magi, A Christmas Carol, The Three Kings, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Heavenly Christmas Tree…
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“He may delay because it would not be safe to give us at once what we ask: we are not ready for it. To give ere we could truly receive, would be to destroy the very heart and hope of prayer, to cease to be our Father. The delay itself may work to bring us nearer to our help, to increase the desire, perfect the prayer, and ripen the receptive condition.”

GivingHeartMayHelpingWould BeDesireAsksFatherWaitingPrayerPerfectConditionsReadySafeIncreaseCeaseDelayOur FatherNot ReadyReceptive
Book:Unspoken Sermons, completed: MacDonald's Works
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“LET A MAN THINK AND CARE ever so little about God, he does not therefore exist without God. God is here with him, upholding, warming, delighting, teaching him-making life a good thing to him. God gives him himself, though the man knows it not.”

ThinkingKnowsMenGivingLittlesDoeGodCareTeachingHe ManGood ThingsWithout God
Book:The Complete Works of George MacDonald: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, Theological Writings & Essays (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, England’s Antiphon, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, The Light Princess, The Golden Key and many more
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“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.”

IfsWorldNeedsGivingUsedFriendshipMoneyPowerfulHalfAirSweetPlentyWorms
Book:THOMAS WINGFOLD, CURATE + PAUL FABER, SURGEON + THERE AND BACK - The Complete Series: The Curate's Awakening, The Lady's Confession & The Baron's Apprenticeship
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“[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."”

WayGivingLooksMayChildrenI CanDesireStrongPrayerWorshipWorthyMy ChildrenKneesCan Not
Author:George MacDonald
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“In Giving, a man receives more than he gives; and the more is in proportion to the worth of the thing given.”

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Book:The Complete Novels of George Macdonald (Illustrated): The Princess and the Goblin, The Princess and Curdie, Phantastes, At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, David Elginbrod, Malcolm, Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood, Wilfrid Cumbermede and many more
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