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What we call evil, is the only and best shape, which, for the person and his condition at the time, could be assumed by the best good.

— George MacDonald Phantastes (1858)

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More quotes by George MacDonald

Trust to God to weave your little thread into the great web, though the pattern shows it not yet.

A genuine work of art must mean many things; the truer its art, the more things it will mean.

The Fantastic Imagination (1893)

Never be discouraged because good things get on so slowly here; and never fail daily to do that good which lies next to your hand.

One difference between God's work and man's is, that, while God's work cannot mean more than he meant, man's must mean more than he meant.

The Fantastic Imagination (1893)

To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.

The Marquis of Lossie (1877)

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A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love (1973)

From now on, everything in life will appear blurry to me. What’s the point of wiping my glasses when my vision has already left me?"

Sanu Sharma

You can never plan the future by the past.

Edmund Burke A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791)

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past,
But an eternal now does always last.

Abraham Cowley Poems (1656)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: George MacDonald (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.