Quotessence
Home / Authors / Madeleine L'Engle
Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsChildrenWritingArtKnowsThinkingWayPeopleHumansArtistLightBelieveBookGivingUniverseNeedsStoriesStarsMatterWant

Famous Madeleine L'Engle Quotes

“If I have something I want to say that is too difficult for adults to swallow, then I write it in a book for children. Children still haven't closed themselves off with fear of the unknown, fear of revolution, or the scramble for security. They are still familiar with the inborn vocabulary of myth”

IfsWantWritingChildrenStillsBookDifficultSecurityHavensRevolutionAdultsMythFamiliarVocabularyChildren BookFear Of The Unknown
Book:The Crosswicks Journals: A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, The Irrational Season, and Two-Part Invention
Create image

“We don't want to feel less when we have finished a book; we want to feel that new possibilities of being have been opened to us. We don't want to close a book with a sense that life is totally unfair and that there is no light in the darkness; we want to feel that we have been given illumination.”

WantFeelsHas BeensBookLightLife IsGivenDarknessPossibilityFinishedUnfairIlluminationDarkness To LightNew Possibilities
Book:Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
Create image

“And I can't say it now. I can't say what I want to say. I hold you-- I-- I clutch you, because I love you so desperately, and time is so short, we have such a little time in which to live and be young, even at best, and I put my arms around you and hold you because I want to love you while I can and I want to know I'm loving you, only it doesn't mean anything because you aren't afraid. You aren't frightened so that you want to clutch it all while you can.”

KnowsWantMeanLittlesI CanYoungLove YouArmsFrightenedLoving YouLittle TimeBe YoungClutchI Want To Love You
Author:Madeleine L'Engle
Create image

“It's a very American trait, this wanting people to think well of us. It's a young want, and I am ashamed of it in myself. I am not always a good daughter, even though my lacks are in areas different from her complaints. Haven't I learned yet that the desire to be perfect is always disastrous and, at the least, loses me in the mire of false guilt?”

PeopleThinkingWantWellsDifferentYoungDesireLosesPerfectHavensDaughterAreasGuiltAshamedTraitsComplaints
Book:The Summer of the Great-Grandmother
Create image

“In your language you have a form of poetry called the sonnet…There are fourteen lines, I believe, all in iambic pentameter. That’s a very strict rhythm or meter…And each line has to end with a rigid pattern. And if the poet does not do it exactly this way, it is not a sonnet…But within this strict form the poet has complete freedom to say whatever he wants…You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you.”

IfsWayWantWritingBelieveDoeEndsFormLanguageGivenI BelieveLinesPoetPatternsRhythmStrictUp To YouSonnetFourteenMeterComplete Freedom
Author:Madeleine L'Engle
Create image

“Calvin said, "Do you know that this is the first time I've seen you without your glasses?" "I'm blind as a bat without them. I'm near-sighted, like father." "Well, you know what, you've got dream-boat eyes," Calvin said. "Listen, you go right on wearing your glasses. I don't think I want anybody else to see what gorgeous eyes you have.”

ThinkingKnowsWantFirstsWellsSaidDreamEyeFatherFirst TimeBlindGlassesBoatDo You KnowBatsGorgeous
Book:A Wrinkle in Time
Create image