Sigrid Gerstner > Sigrid's Quotes

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”
― Robert Frost

“Adam thus bequeathed us his death, not his sin … We do not inherit the sins of our fathers, even though we may be made to endure their punishment. Guilt cannot be transmitted. We are linked to Adam only by his memory, which becomes our own, and by his death, which foreshadows our own. Not by his sin.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light: The Austin Family Chronicles, Book 4 (Newbery Honor Book)

“People like me spend years learning the techniques of meditation. But you're a poet, and poets are born knowing the language of angels.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“We're not peculiar."
"Oh, yes, you are. Don't you realize that in my world my parents are peculiar because they'd never been divorced? Basically because it would have been too much trouble. But you live in a world where not only are your parents not divorced, they appear to love each other”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“There're a lot of things you don't understand." Zachary smoldered his gaze at me. "I came looking for you, and then when I found out where you were, suddenly it didn't seem worth it. It wasn't you. It was everything and nothing. Life. Ma's death. Talking to anybody. Not worth it”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“If we knew each morning that there was going to be another morning, and on and on and on, we'd tend not to notice the sunrise,or hear the birds, or the waves rolling into shore. We'd tend not to treasure our time with the people we love.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“If I'm confused, or upset, or angry, if I can go out and look at the stars I'll almost always get back a sense of proportion. It's not that they make me feel insignificant; it's the very opposite; they make me feel that everything matters, be it ever so small, and that there's meaning to life even when it seems most meaningless.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“There was no light. The darkness was deep and there was no dazzle.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“Grandfather looked away from me and out to sea, and when he spoke, it was as though he spoke to himself. “The obligations of normal human kindness – chesed, as the Hebrew has it – that we all owe. But there’s a kind of vanity in thinking you can nurse the world. There’s a kind of vanity in goodness.”

I could hardly believe my ears. “But aren’t we supposed to be good?”

“I’m not sure.” Grandfather’s voice was heavy. “I do know that we’re not good, and there’s a lot of truth to the saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“I simply take him into my heart, and then put him into God's hand.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“Nothing loved is ever lost or perished.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“the discoveries don't come when you're looking for them. They come when for some reason you've let go conscious control.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“This wasn't the first time that I'd come close to death, but it was the first time I'd been involved in this part of it, this strange, terrible saying goodbye to someone you've loved.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“If we all knew each morning that there was going to be another morning, and on and on and on, we's tend not to notice the sunrise, or hear the birds, or the waves rolling into the shore. We'd tend not to treasure our time with the people we love. Simply the awareness that our mortal lives had a beginning and will have an end enhances the quality of our living. Perhaps it's even more intense when we know that the termination of the body is near, but it shouldn't be.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“Poets are born knowing the language of angels.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“Wherever there's laughter, there is heaven.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“If thou could'st empty all thyself of self
Like to a shell dishabited
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf
And say This is not dead and fill thee with Himself instead.

But thou art all replete with very thou
And hast such shrewd activity
That when He comes He says This is enow Unto itself - 'twere better let it be
It is so small and full there is no room for me.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“There is in God, some say, a deep but dazzling darkness.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“And there's no getting around the fact that all life lives at the expense of another life.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“It is possible to suffer and despair an entire lifetime and still not give up the art of laughter.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“A great ring of pure & endless light
Dazzles the darkness in my heart
And breaks apart the dusky clouds of night.
The end of all is hinted in the start.

When we are born we bear the seeds of blight;
Around us life & death are torn apart,
Yet a great ring of pure and endless light
Dazzles the darkness in my heart.

It lights the world to my delight.
Infinity is present in each part.
A loving smile contains all art.
The motes of starlight spark & dart.
A grain of sand holds power & might.
Infinity is present in each part,
And a great ring of pure and endless light
Dazzles the darkness in my heart.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“A good laugh heals a lot of hurts.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“I saw Eternity the other night,
Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
All calm, as it was bright,
And round beneath it, Time, in hours, days, years,
Driven by the spheres,
Like a vast shadow moved, in which the world
And all her train were hurled.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“It's hard to let go anything we love. We live in a world which teaches us to clutch. But when we clutch we're left with a fistful of ashes.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“The earth will never be the same again
Rock, water, tree, iron, share this greif
As distant stars participate in the pain.
A candle snuffed, a falling star or leaf,
A dolphin death, O this particular loss
A Heaven-mourned; for if no angel cried
If this small one was tossed away as dross,
The very galaxies would have lied.
How shall we sing our love's song now
In this strange land where all are born to die?
Each tree and leaf and star show how
The universe is part of this one cry,
Every life is noted and is cherished,
and nothing loved is ever lost or perished.”
― Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

“The shared secret and the shared denial are the most horrible aspects of incest.”
― John Bradshaw, Bradshaw on the Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-Esteem

“Perhaps nothing so accurately characterizes dysfunctional families as denial. The denial forces members to keep believing the myths and vital lies in spite of the facts, or to keep expecting that the same behaviors will have different outcomes.
Dad's not an alcoholic because he never drinks in the morning, in spite of the fact that he's drunk every night.”
― John Bradshaw, Bradshaw on the Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-Esteem

“The Mozart Effect and The Mozart Effect for Children. Pardon the pun, but his works have obviously struck a chord, since millions of the CDs and cassette tapes that accompany his books have also been sold. Strengthen the Mind features music for intelligence and learning, Heal the Body presents music for rest and relaxation, and Unlock the Creative Spirit focuses on music for imagination and creativity. Don chose other musical selections especially for the needs of pregnant mothers, infants, and children. The director of the coronary-care unit at Baltimore Hospital states that listening to classical music for half an hour produces the same effect as ten milligrams of Valium.”
― Joan Borysenko, Inner Peace for Busy People: 52 Simple Strategies for Transforming Life

“Love thy enemies, it says in the scriptures. My foster mother always added, "At the very least, you will be polite to them.”
― Patricia Briggs, Moon Called