A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

When I find myself hotly defending something, when I am, in fact, zealous, it is time for me to step back and examine whatever it is that has me so hot under the collar. Do I think it’s going to threaten my comfortable rut? Make me change and grow? — and growing always causes growing pains. Am I afraid to ask questions?

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/828…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #change #discomfort #growth #questioning #rut #selfawareness #selfexamination #selfquestioning #statusquo #threat #zeal #zealotry

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

When I find myself hotly defending something, when I am, in fact, zealous, it is time for me to step back and examine whatever it is that has me so hot under the collar. Do I think it’s going to threaten my comfortable rut? Make me change and grow? --…

WIST Quotations

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

Writing fiction is definitely a universe disturber, and for the writer, first of all. My books push me and prod me and make me ask questions I might otherwise avoid. I start a book, having lived with the characters for several years, during the writing of other books, and I have a pretty good idea of where the story is going and what I hope it’s going to say. And then, once I get deep into the writing, unexpected things begin to happen, things which make me question, and which sometimes really shake my universe.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/828…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #author #expectations #imagination #selfexamination #selfquestioning #worldview #writer #writing

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

Writing fiction is definitely a universe disturber, and for the writer, first of all. My books push me and prod me and make me ask questions I might otherwise avoid. I start a book, having lived with the characters for several years, during the writing of other books, and I…

WIST Quotations

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

We need to dare disturb the universe by not being manipulated or frightened by judgmental groups who assume the right to insist that if we do not agree with them, not only do we not understand but we are wrong. How dull the world would be if we all had to feel the same way about everything, if we all had to like the same books, dislike the same books.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/826…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #bookbanning #books #censor #censorship #disagreement #disapproval #disturbance #judgmental #reading #unruliness

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

We need to dare disturb the universe by not being manipulated or frightened by judgmental groups who assume the right to insist that if we do not agree with them, not only do we not understand but we are wrong. How dull the world would be if we all had…

WIST Quotations

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

We all practice some form of censorship. I practiced it simply by the books I had in the house when my children were little. If I am given a budget of $500 I will be practicing a form of censorship by the books I choose to buy with that limited amount of money, and the books I choose not to buy. But nobody said we were not allowed to have points of view. The exercise of personal taste is not the same thing as imposing personal opinion.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/825…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #censorship #control #imposition #opinion #pointofview #taste

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

We all practice some form of censorship. I practiced it simply by the books I had in the house when my children were little. If I am given a budget of $500 I will be practicing a form of censorship by the books I choose to buy with that limited…

WIST Quotations

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

   Many years ago, when A Wrinkle in Time was being rejected by publisher after publisher, I wrote in my journal, “I will rewrite for months or even years for an editor who sees what I am trying to do in this book and wants to make it better and stronger. But I will not, I cannot diminish and mutilate it for an editor who does not understand it and wants to weaken it.”
   Now, the editors who did not understand the book and wanted the problem of evil soft peddled had every right to refuse to publish the book, as I had, sadly, the right and obligation to try to be true to it. If they refused it out of honest conviction, that was honorable. If they refused it for fear of trampling on someone else’s toes, that was, alas, the way of the world.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/822…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #lengle #wrinkleintime #awrinkleintime #editing #editor #evil #principle #problemofevil #publication #rewriting #writing #rejection

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

Many years ago, when A Wrinkle in Time was being rejected by publisher after publisher, I wrote in my journal, “I will rewrite for months or even years for an editor who sees what I am trying to do in this book and wants to make it better and stronger.…

WIST Quotations

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

We find what we are looking for. If we are looking for life and love and openness and growth, we are likely to find them. If we are looking for witchcraft and evil, we’ll likely find them, and we may get taken over by them.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/823…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #censorship #confirmationbias #destination #finding #goodandevil #interpretation #looking #meaning #perspective #results #searching #seeking #reading #literature #art

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

We find what we are looking for. If we are looking for life and love and openness and growth, we are likely to find them. If we are looking for witchcraft and evil, we’ll likely find them, and we may get taken over by them.

WIST Quotations

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

The writer whose words are going to be read by children has a heavy responsibility. And yet, despite the undeniable fact that the children’s minds are tender, they are also far more tough than many people realize, and they have an openness and an ability to grapple with difficult concepts which many adults have lost. Writers of children’s literature are set apart by their willingness to confront difficult questions.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/819…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #kidlit #childrenslit #childrensliterature #adults #author #boldness #children #concepts #engagement #genre #literature #stimulation #writer #writing

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

The writer whose words are going to be read by children has a heavy responsibility. And yet, despite the undeniable fact that the children’s minds are tender, they are also far more tough than many people realize, and they have an openness and an ability to grapple with difficult concepts…

WIST Quotations

A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle

We think because we have words, not the other way around, and the greater our vocabulary, the greater our ability to think conceptually. The first people a dictator puts in jail are the writers, the teachers, the librarians — because these people are dangerous. They have enough vocabulary to recognize injustice and to speak out loudly about it. Let us have the courage to go on being dangerous people.

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/818…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #lengle #madeleinelengle #censorship #communication #concepts #despotism #dictatorship #jailing #librarians #suppression #teachers #tyranny #vocabulary #wellspoken #writers

L'Engle, Madeleine - Speech (1983-11-16), "Dare To Be Creative," Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC | WIST Quotations

We think because we have words, not the other way around, and the greater our vocabulary, the greater our ability to think conceptually. The first people a dictator puts in jail are the writers, the teachers, the librarians -- because these people are dangerous. They have enough vocabulary to recognize…

WIST Quotations
It's storytelling with capital letters, but I do appreciate the reference-fest in Stranger Things. It made me pick this one out of my bookshelf, it's the norwegian translation of A Wrinkle in Time that I read as a kid. It's printed in 1980, I guess I read it a year or two later. Thankfully neither Mrs. nor Mr. Whatsit manifested. Has read it for at least one of my kids in later years. Weird and fun! #strangerthings #awrinkleintime #books #MadeleineLEngle