Quotes by Madeleine L'Engle

In your language you have a form of poetry called a sonnet...It is a very strict form of poetry, is it not?...There are fourteen lines, I believe, all in iambic pentameter. Thats a very strict rhythm or meter, yes?...And each line has to end with a rigid rhyme pattern. And if the poet does not do it exactly this way, it is not a sonnet, is it?No.But within this strict form the poet has complete freedom to say whatever he wants, doesnt he?Yes. Calvin nodded again.So, said Mrs. Whatsit.So what?Oh, do not be stupid, boy! Mrs. Whatsit scolded. You know perfectly well what I am driving at!You mean youre comparing our lives to a sonnet? A strict form, but with freedom within it?Yes, Mrs. Whatsit said. Youre given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.

In art, either as creators or participators, we are helped to remember some of the glorious things we have forgotten, and some of the terrible things we were asked to endure...

We, and I think Im speaking for many writers, dont know what it is that sometimes comes to make our books alive. All we can do is write dutifully and day after day, every day, giving our work the very best of what we are capable. I dont that we can consciously put the magic in; it doesnt work that way. When the magic comes, its a gift.

Jesus was not a theologian. He was a God who told stories.

Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.

Women in Jesus day were less than second-class citizens.

Jesus, who comes across in the Gospels as extraordinarily strong, begged in the garden, with drops of sweat like blood running down his face, that he might be spared the terrible cup ahead of him, the betrayal and abandonment by his friends, death on the cross. Because Jesus cried out in anguish, we may too. But our fear is less frequent and infinitely less if we are close to the Creator. Jesus, having cried out, then let his fear go, and moved on.

A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.

Meaninglessness inhibits fullness of life and is therefore equivalent to illness. Meaning makes a great many things endurable--perhaps everything.... It is not that God is a myth, but that myth is the revelation of a divine life in man. It is not we who invent myth; rather, it speaks to us as a Word of God.

You cannot see the past that did not happen any more than you can foresee the future.

Because we suddenly see that making everything all right would NOT make everything all right. We would not be human beings. We would then be no more than puppets obeying the strings of the master puppeteer. We agree sadly that it is a good thing that we are not God; we do not have to understand Gods ways, or the suffering and brokenness and pain that sooner or later come to us all.

Gregory of Nyssa points out that Mosess vision of God began with the light, with the visible burning bush, the bush which was bright with fire and was not consumed; but afterwards, God spoke to him in a cloud. After the glory which could be seen with human eyes, he began to see the glory which is beyond and after light. The shadows are deepening all around us.

I hate it! Charles Wallace cried passionately. I hate the Dark Thing!

It may be that we have lost our ability to hold a blazing coal, to move unfettered through time, to walk on water, because we have been taught that such things have to be earned; we should deserve them; we must be qualified. We are suspicious of grace. We are afraid of the very lavishness of the gift. But a child rejoices in presents!

We are suspicious of grace. We are afraid of the very lavishness of the gift.

When I get this feeling, this compulsion, I always do what it tells me. I cant explain where it comes from or how I get it, and it doesnt happen very often. But I obey it. And this afternoon I had a feeling that I must come over to the haunted house. Thats all I know, kid. Im not holding anything back. Maybe its because Im supposed to meet you. You tell me.

Meg looked. The dark shadow was still there. It had not lessened or dispersed with the coming of night. And where the shadow was, the stars were not visible.What could there be about a shadow that was so terrible that she knew that there had never been before or ever would be again, anything that would chill her with a fear that was beyond shuddering, beyond crying or screaming, beyond the possibility of comfort?

Just because we dont understand doesnt mean that the explanation doesnt exist.

Do you think things always have an explanation? Yes. I believe that they do. But I think that with our human limitations were not always able to understand the explanations. But you see, Meg, just because we dont understand doesnt mean that the explanation doesnt exist.

Listen, she said, cherubim have come to my planet before.I know that. Where do you think I got my information?What do you know about us?I have heard that your host planet is shadowed, that it is troubled.It is beautiful, Meg said defensively.She felt a rippling of his wings. In the middle of your cities?Well-no-but I dont live in a city.And is your planet peaceful?Well-no-it isnt very peaceful.I had the idea, Proginoskes moved reluctantly within her mind, that there are wars on your planet. People fighting and killing each other.Yes, thats so, but-And children go hungry.Yes.And people dont understand each other.Not always.And theres-theres hate?Yes.She felt Proginoskes pulling away. All I want to do, he was murmuring to himself, is go some place quiet and recite the names of the stars...