Quote of the Day

“Storytelling makes us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving. Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically. It is we humans who either help bring about, or hinder the coming of the kingdom. We look around us, and it is a complex world, full of incomprehensible greed…irrationality, brutality, war, terrorism–but also self-sacrifice, honor, dignity–and in all of this we look for, and usually find, pattern, structure, meaning. Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.”–Madeleine L’Engle

From Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life. This idea of writing as a way of expressing hope for humanity and finding meaning in the chaos reminds me of Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

5 thoughts on “Quote of the Day

  1. shadowoperator says:

    I was so glad to read your quote from Madeleine L’Engle, it seems just the kind of thing she would say. It’s topical for me too, because I just passed along my copy of “A Wrinkle in Time” to my nine-year-old nephew and recommended that he get to “A Wind in the Door” and “A Swiftly Tilting Planet” later (I understand there’s a fourth book, but I don’t know its title). “A Swiftly Tilting Planet” also brings to my mind one of my favorite poems, “Morning Song of Senlin” by Conrad Aiken, from whose poem the title of L’Engle’s book is taken. There’s a resemblance between the two writers’ ideas, which you can see if you read the poem.

      • shadowoperator says:

        Isn’t it lovely? “Senlin” apparently means (to Aiken, at any rate) “little old man,” and the irony in the poem doesn’t undercut the overall sweetness and determination of the man’s stance. I try to read it at times when I’m feeling overcome by being on my own version of “a swiftly tilting planet,” and it always cheers me up (even though I’m not a little old man!)

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