Sunday, August 27, 2006

Madeleine L'Engle quotes

I never read "A swiftly Tilting planet" until I was an adult, but it stirred me in the deep places, even those bits I couldn't quite figure the sense of. so, because they inspire, delight or challenge me, here are some quotes from her various writings:

"Darkness was and darkness was good. As with light. Light and Darkness dancing together, born together, born of each other, neither preceding, neither following, both fully being, in joyful rhythm."
(A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET, 50)

"An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers. To define everything is to annihilate much that gives us laughter and joy.
(A CIRCLE OF QUIET, 30-31)

"There's the rub; an icon can far too easily become an idol. Idols always bring disaster to the idolater. An icon is an open door to the Creator; when it becomes an idol, the door slams in your face."
(Penguins and Golden Calves, 39)

This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There'd have been no room for the child.
("After Annunciation", WEATHER OF THE HEART)

"Only Christ can free us from the prison of legalism, and then only if we are willing to be freed." (Penguins and Golden Calves, 85)

1 comment:

Suzanne R said...

I especially like the second quote. I was raised in a church that liked to have answers and explanations for everything. Such a grinding-down religion it was! And I decided I'd rather have the questions than the wrong answers.