Quotes from A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Madeleine L'Engle ·  256 pages

Rating: (88.4K votes)


“At Tara in this fateful hour,
I place all Heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness:
All these I place,
By God's almighty help and grace
Between myself and the powers of darkness!”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Part of doing something is listening. We are listening. To the sun. To the stars. To the wind.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Stories are like children. They grow in their own way. ”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Anger is not bitterness. Bitterness can go on eating at a man's heart and mind forever. Anger spends itself in its own time.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Nothing, no one, is too small to matter. What you do is going to make a difference.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet



“The world has been abnormal for so long that we've forgotten what it's like to live in a peaceful and reasonable climate. If there is to be any peace or reason, we have to create it in our own hearts and homes.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Light and darkness dancing together, born together, born of each other, neither preceding, neither following, both fully being in joyful rhythm.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“I am not some kind of computer. Only machines have glib answers for everything.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“I cannot find it in me to believe that God enjoys long faces and scowls at merriment.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“It was still twilight when they reached the flat rock. They sat, and the stone still held the warmth of the day's sun. At first there were only occasional sparkles, but as it got darker Chuck was lost in a daze pf delight as a galaxy of fireflies twinkled on and off, flinging upward in a blaze of light, dropping earthward like falling stars, moving in contiuous effervescent dance.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet



“Charles 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 from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Lords of blue and Lords of gold,
Lords of wind and waters wild,
Lords of time that's growing old,
When will come the season mild?
When will come blue Madoc's child?”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Lords of melody and song,
Lords of roses burning bright,
Blue will right the ancient wrong,
Though the way is dark and long,
Blue will shine with loving light.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Lords of space and Lords of time,
Lords of blessing, Lords of grace,
Who is in the warmer clime?
Who will follow Madoc's rhyme?
Blue will alter time and space.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Lords 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 from A Swiftly Tilting Planet



“It hasn't happened yet, nuclear war. No missiles have been sent. As long as it hasn't happened, there's a chance that it may not happen.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“Charles Wallace had once again been contemplating the intricate model of the tesseract. He spoke softly to his sister. “Meg, no matter what happens, even if Dennys is right about her heart, remember that it was herself she placed, for the baby’s sake, and yours, and Calvin’s, and all of us—”

Meg looked at him questioningly.

Charles Wallace’s eyes as he returned her gaze were the blue of light as it glances off a unicorn’s horn, pure and clear and infinitely deep. “In this fateful hour, it was herself she placed between us and the powers of darkness.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


“You know, my dears, the world has been abnormal for so long that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to live in a peaceful and reasonable climate. If there is to be any peace or reason, we have to create it in our own hearts and homes.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, quote from A Swiftly Tilting Planet


About the author

Madeleine L'Engle
Born place: in New York City, New York, The United States
Born date November 29, 1918
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