01c. 1962 ADTo try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
02c. 1962 ADObedience is an unpopular word nowadays, but the artist must be obedient to the work, whether it be a symphony, a painting, or a story for a small child. I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius or something very small, comes to the artist and says, "Here I am, Enflesh me. Give birth to me." And the artist either says, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," and willingly becomes the bearer of the work, or refuses; but the obedient response is not necessarily a conscious one, and not everyone has the humble, courageous obedience of Mary.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
03c. 1962 ADMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' For our sakes Jesus went through all the suffering we may ever have to endure, and because he cried out those words we may cry them out, too.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
04c. 1962 ADBasically there can be no categories such as 'religious' art and 'secular' art, because all true art is incarnational, and therefore 'religious.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
06c. 1962 ADWhen the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
07c. 1962 ADThe figure in the icon is not meant to represent literally what Peter or John or any of the apostles looked like, or what Mary looked like, nor the child, Jesus. But, the orthodox painter feels, Jesus of Nazareth did not walk around Galilee faceless. The icon of Jesus may not look like the man Jesus two thousand years ago, but it represents some *quality* of Jesus, or his mother, or his followers, and so becomes an open window through which we can be given a new glimpse of the love of God.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
08c. 1962 ADWhat we are is going to be visible in our art, no matter how secular (on the surface) the subject may be.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
09c. 1962 ADWhen we are writing or painting or composing, we are, during the time of creativity, freed from normal restrictions and opened to a wider world, where colours are brighter, sounds clearer, and people more wondrously complex than we normally realize.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
10c. 1962 ADIf the artist reflects only his own culture, then his works will die with that culture. But if his works reflect the eternal and universal, they will revive.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
11c. 1962 ADThe writer does want to be published; the painter urgently hopes that someone will see the finished canvas (van Gogh was denied the satisfaction of having his work bought and appreciated during his lifetime; no wonder the pain was more than he could bear); the composer needs his music to be heard. Art is communication, and if there is no communication it is as though the work has been stillborn.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
12c. 1962 ADStories, no matter how simple, can be vehicles of truth; can be, in fact, icons. It's no coincidence that Jesus taught almost entirely by telling stories, simple stories dealing with the stuff of life familiar to the Jews of his day. Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named. And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos we see despite all the chaos.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
14c. 1962 ADThere are forces working in the world as never before in the history of mankind for standardization, for the regimentation of us all, or what I like to call making muffins of us, muffins all like every other muffin in the muffin tin. This is the limited universe, the drying dissipating universe that we can help our children to avoid by providing them with ‘explosive material capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly'.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
15c. 1962 ADThe author & the reader "know" each other: they meet on the bridge of wordsMadeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
18c. 1962 ADCome t'e' picciol fallo amaro morso! Dante. What grievous pain a little fault doth give thee!Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
19c. 1962 ADThe artist cannot hold back; it is impossible, because writing, or any other discipline of art, involves participation in suffering, in the ills and the occasional stabbing joys that come from being part of the human drama.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
20c. 1962 ADLords of fire and earth and water,Lords of moon and wind and sky,Come now to the Old Man's daughter,Come from fathers long gone by.Bring blue from a distance eye.Lords of water, earth, and fire,Lords of wind and snow and rain,Give to my heart's desire.Life as all life comes with pain,But blue will come to us again.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
21c. 1962 ADNo long-term marriage is made easily, and there have been times when I've been so angry or so hurt that I thought my love would never recover. And then, in the midst of near despair, something has happened beneath the surface. A bright little flashing fish of hope has flicked silver fins and the water is bright and suddenly I am returned to a state of love again — till next time. I've learned that there will always be a next time, and that I will submerge in darkness and misery, but that I won't stay submerged. And each time something has been learned under the waters; something has been gained; and a new kind of love has grown. The best I can ask for is that this love, which has been built on countless failures, will continue to grow. I can say no more than that this is mystery, and gift, and that somehow or other, through grace, our failures can be redeemed and blessed.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
22c. 1962 AD--So we reached our decisions simultaneously, and apart, and if I knew that Court was fighting a battle, did he, too, sense mine? Did it have anything to do with his coming back to life again? For he is here, I am no longer living with a marble image. And I will never know why. Court being Court I can never ask him why; we wrestled with our problems alone and we must live alone with the answers. And is it part of a marriage, part of being a human being, that we must always reach our decisions alone?Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
23c. 1962 ADCharles Wallace and the unicorn moved through the time-spinning reaches of a far glazy, and he realized that the galaxy itself was part of a mighty orchestra, and each star and planet within the galaxy added its own instrument to the music of the spheres. As long as the ancient harmonies were sung, the universe would not entirely lose its joy.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
24c. 1962 ADLe coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point. French. Pascal. The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing.Madeleine L'Engle / quote ↗
