"Mr Cupples was a baffled poet trying to be a humourist—baffled—not by the booksellers or the public—for such baffling one need not have a profound sympathy—but baffled by his own weakness, his incapacity for assimilating sorrow..."

"…She saw too that there was a light on the face, a light which came neither from the sun in the sky, nor the sunbeam on the wall, towards which it was unconsciously turned. I think it must have been the heavenly bow itself, shining upon all human clouds…" George MacDonald

"…a man is rather being thought than thinking, when a new thought arises in his mind. He knew it not till he found it there, therefore he could not even have sent for it. He did not create it, else how could it be the surprise that it was when it arose? ..." George MacDonald

"…there are two sides to a contrast; and it is wonderful also how one gets through what one cannot get out of." George MacDonald (From "Alec Forbes of Howglen," CHAPTER XXXVIII)

"He rose in the morning with the feeling revived, that something intense was going on all around. But the door into life generally opens behind us, and a hand is put forth which draws us in backwards..."

"…Alec had not yet begun to look realities in the face. The very nobility and fearlessness of his nature had preserved him from many such actions as give occasion for looking within and asking oneself whereto things are tending..."

"…it is our divine aspirations and not our intellectual theories that need to be carried out. The latter may, nay must in some measure, perish; the former will be found in perfect harmony with the divine Will..."

"...she was one of those simple creatures who perceive at once that if they are to set anything right for themselves or other people, they must begin with their own selves, their inward being and life." George MacDonald (From "Alec Forbes of Howglen," CHAPTER XXVI)

"…It is true no one can by an effort of the will care for this or that; but where a man cares for nothing that is worth caring for, the fault must lie, not in the nature God made, but in the character the man himself has made and is making. There is a moral reason why he does not & cannot care..."

"It was a profound pleasure to her not to know what was coming next, provided some one whom she loved did." George MacDonald (From "Alec Forbes of Howglen," CHAPTER XXIII)

"There she sat, in perfect contentment, watching the progress of the boat—a progress not very perceptible to her inexperienced eyes, for the building of a boat is like the building of a city or the making of a book: it turns out a boat at last." George MacDonald

"Maybe ye did verra richt. But tak care, Alec—"here Thomas paused from his work, and turning towards the boy with a trowelful of mortar in his hand, spoke very slowly and solemnly—'tak ye care that ye beir no malice against the maister...' "

"In that smile the cloudy sky of the universe gently opened, and the face of God looked out upon Annie." George MacDonald (From "Alec Forbes of Howglen," CHAPTER X)

"…what her heart cried was this: " 'O God, tak care o' me frae the rottans.' "There was no need to send an angel from heaven in answer to this little one's prayer: the cat would do. Annie heard a scratch and a mew at the door. The rats made one frantic scramble and were still...

"Hech! it's a weary warl," said George. "Ye hae no richt to say sae, George," answered Thomas, "for ye hae never met it, an' foughten wi' 't. Ye hae never draan the soord o' the Lord and o' Gideon..."

"But there are others who dare not count that labor an evil which helps to bring out the best elements of human nature, not even when the necessity for it outlasts any impulse towards it, and who remember the words of the Lord: 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' " George MacDonald

"So together they lifted the last covering of the dead, laid it over him, and fastened it down. And there was darkness about the dead; but he knew it not, because he was full of light. For this man was one who, all his life, had striven to be better." George MacDonald

"Life is a constant sunrise, which death cannot interrupt, any more than the night can swallow up the sun." George MacDonald (From: "Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood," CHAPTER I, DESPONDENCY AND CONSOLATION)

"Surely no one will judge that a quarter of an hour, though in the middle of the day, spent in seeking the presence of that Spirit whereby all actions are fitted to the just measure of their true end, was disproportioned..."

"The half of our ill-temper is often occasioned by annoyance at the other half." George MacDonald (From "Guild Court," CHAPTER LVII - GRANNIE APPEALS TO WIDDLES)

"…he had learned that one of the virtues of holy and true service is to get out of the way as soon as possible." George MacDonald (From "Guild Court," CHAPTER LIII - THOMAS AND LUCY)

"…not unfrequently to behave to a man as good rouses his conscience and makes him wish that he were as good as he is taken for. It gives him almost a taste of what goodness is like—certainly a very faint and far-off taste—yet a something." George MacDonald

On re-reading the first chapter of "Weighed and Wanting," which lays the foundation for the whole of what follows it, I am astonished at how much MacDonald weaves into it, including much that may so easily be passed by...

"Well, we must get you out of this scrape, somehow," he said, heartily. "I don't see how you can, sir." "It rests with yourself chiefly. Another can only help. The feet that walked into the mire must turn and walk out of it again. I don't mean to reproach you—only to encourage you to effort."

"Mr. Fuller had a wise way of never interrupting till he saw in what direction the sense lay. So he let them talk…" George MacDonald (From "Guild Court," CHAPTER XLIX - THE CONFESSION)

Here begins our weekly reading project with George MacDonald’s "Weighed and Wanting." gmdreflections.substack.com/p/george-mac...

George MacDonald - "Weighed and Wanting," CHAPTER I, BAD WEATHER

"It was a gray, windy noon in the beginning of autumn..."

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"I think…that every willing heart will be taught what is right by the time that action is necessary." George MacDonald (From "Guild Court," CHAPTER XLIV - LUCY'S NEW TROUBLE)

"God gives us all time: we should give each other time, too." George MacDonald (From "Guild Court," CHAPTER XLIV - LUCY'S NEW TROUBLE)

"Business is too often regarded as the hindrance to the spiritual life. I regard it as among the finest means the world affords for strengthening and causing to grow this inner real life. For every deed may be done according to the fashion of the outward perishing life, as an end; or..."

"It was not long before his cogitations came to the point of action; for with men of Mr. Fuller's kind all their meditations have action for their result." George MacDonald (From "Guild Court," CHAPTER XXXIII - MR. FULLER IN HIS CHURCH)