George MacDonald Novelist
- Gender: Male
- Citizenship: Scotland
- Born: Dec 10, 1824
- Died: Sep 18, 1905
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later," said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence".
Elizabeth Yates wrote of Sir Gibbie, "It moved me the way books did when, as a child, the great gates of literature began to open and first encounters with noble thoughts and utterances were unspeakably thrilling."
Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald.
The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to, and the last duty done.
the future
Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly.
trust
How strange this fear of death is! We are never frightened at a sunset.
death & fear
Attitudes are more important than facts.
attitudes
Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.
forgiveness
It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think he must prefer quality to quantity.
best, God & work
Age is not all decay it is the ripening, the swelling, of the fresh life within, that withers and bursts the husk.
aging
To have what we want is riches but to be able to do without is power.
power
When we are out of sympathy with the young, then I think our work in this world is over.
sympathy
It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to govern their fellowmen.
best, men, nature & politics
To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.
trust