The Loveliness is Herself

"I would therefore advise any young man of aspiration in the matter of beauty, to choose a plain woman for wife—IF THROUGH HER PLAINNESS SHE IS YET LOVELY IN HIS EYES; for the loveliness is herself, victorious over the plainness, and her face, so far from complete and yet serving her loveliness, has in it …

A Vision

“Then to his neighbour one may call out, "Come!Brother, come hither—I would show you a thing;"And lo, a vision of his imagining,Informed of thought which else had rested dumb,Before the neighbour's truth-delighted eyes,In the great æther of existence rise,And two hearts each to each the closer cling!” George MacDonald, The Diary of an Old Soul …

Fear Nothing

"Hold fast, and fear nothing."George MacDonald, St. George and St. Michael

Born to Soar Aloft

“O human creatures, born to soar aloft, Why fall ye thus before a little wind?”Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

On Reason, with Milton

“But God left free the will; for what obeysReason, is free; and Reason he made right,But bid her well be ware, and still erect;Lest, by some fair-appearing good surprised,She dictate false; and mis-inform the willTo do what God expressly hath forbid……To whom thus Michael. Justly thou abhorrestThat son, who on the quiet state of menSuch …

The Process of Living

The process of living seems to consist in coming to realise truths so ancient and simple that, if stated, the sound like barren platitudes. They cannot sound otherwise to those who have not had the relevant experience: that is why there is no real teaching of such truths possible and every generation starts from scratch. …

Freedom — to do What?

"In short, the case for a sort of general guidance from the start is to be found in the fact that the road is beset with traps and temptations to the loss of liberty. There are not only pitfalls, but bottomless pits; there are not only mazes, but mazes without a center. That is why …

Be Strong, Live Happy, and Love!

“…I can now no more; the parting sunBeyond the Earth's green Cape and verdant IslesHesperian sets, my signal to depart.Be strong, live happy, and love! But, first of all,Him, whom to love is to obey, and keepHis great command; take heed lest passion swayThy judgement to do aught, which else free willWould not admit: thine, …

Have Thou a Part in it

“The thing I would say, still comes forth with doubtAnd difference:—is it that thou shap'st my ends?Or is it only the necessityOf stubborn words, that shift sluggish about,Warping my thought as it the sentence bends?—Have thou a part in it, O Lord, and IShall say a truth, if not the thing I try.”— George MacDonald, …

Interview for The New York Times on GK Chesterton

“Chesterton, a whale of a man with ambrosial locks and heavy tread, rambles like a huge blunderbuss about the room and talks. And as he walks and talks he blunders about among his words exactly as he blunders about among the furniture. He seems to be feeling his way through a blunder of terms and …