Quotes from Madeleine L'Engle

Thou cannot harm a butterfly, without troubling a star.

We cannot always cry at the right time and who is to say which time is right?

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

Now wonder our youth is confused and in pain; they long for God, for the transcendent, and they are offered, far too often, either piosity or sociology, neither of which meets their needs, and they are introduced to churches which have become buildings that are a safe place to go to escape the awful demands of God.

Nothing loved is ever lost or perished.

As paredes tem ouvidos. (Portuguese: The walls have ears.)

A winter ago I had an after-school seminar for high-school students and in one of the early sessions Una, a brilliant fifteen-year-old, a born writer who came to Harlem from Panama five years ago, and only then discovered the conflict between races, asked me, Mrs. Franklin, do you really and truly believe in God with no doubts at all? Oh, Una, I really and truly believe in God with all kinds of doubts. But I base my life on this belief.

Holiness ... is nothing we can *do* ... It is gift, sheer gift, waiting there to be recognized and received. We do not have to be qualified to be holy. We do not have to be qualified to be whole, or healed.Made

Meg, when people don't know who they are, they are open either to being Xed, or Named

I have never lived before...Until this summer, I did not know what it was to be alive.

I feel as though I'm not breathing when I'm out of his presence. He's the oxygen in my air, the sun in my universe, the staff of my life. —Jane Gardiner

The naked intellect is an extraordinarily inaccurate instrument.

Love can't be pinned down by a definition, and it certainly can't be proved, any more than anything else important in life can be proved.

If she could give love to IT perhaps it would shrivel up and die, for she was sure that IT could not withstand love.

Their love was a bright flower, youthful and radiantly beautiful.

the discoveries don't come when you're looking for them. They come when for some reason you've let go conscious control.

A burst of harmony so brilliant that it almost overwhelmed them surrounded Meg, the cherubim, Calvin, and Mr. Jenkins. But after a moment of breathlessness, Meg was able to open herself to the song of the farae, these strange creatures who were Deepened, rooted, yet never seperated from each other, no matter how great the distance. We are the song of the universe. We sing with the angelic host. We are musicians. The farae and the stars are the singers. Our song orders the rhythm of creation.

To grow up is to find the small part you are playing in the extraordinary drama written by somebody else.

But we know that just because we want something does not mean that we will get what we want

I've got a sweater. Ben pulled off his coat and held it out for her. Here. Thanks, Ben. It's lovely and warm. Then she said, Ben, I-- I can tell you how I feel about-- about everything. I think you're the best friend I've ever had. I-- I'd lie down and die for you if you wanted me to. Honey, Ben said. When I get you to lie down for me it won't be to die.

We know you have a great mind and all, Mother, but you don't have much sense.

With our human limitations we're not always able to understand the explanations.

It is not always on the great or the important that the balance of the universe depends.

This wasn't the first time that I'd come close to death, but it was the first time I'd been involved in this part of it, this strange, terrible saying goodbye to someone you've loved.