Until a woman has given herself permission to be fabulous, she will not find herself with partners who promote her ability to be so. As long as she tears herself down, she will attract people who tear her down, she will find others who agree that she is undeserving and lacking as long as that is how she thinks of herself.
— Marianne Williamson, A Woman’s Worth, p. 59
We cannot see the benevolence of God’s will for us because we do not expect benevolence. We expect God’s will for us to be niggardly. We so often see God as a miser, doling out the least possible benefit just to keep us quiet. We do not expect God to be generous. We do not expect God to fill our cup to overflowing. And yet, when we begin to work with prayers of gratitude, this is often the experience that we get: abundance. It is by counting our blessings that we begin to be able to see our blessings. It is by seeing our blessings that we begin to fathom the possibility that God could actually intend for there to be more of them. Gratitude gives us a glimpse of God’s good intentions.
— Julia Cameron, Faith and Will, p. 89
Is Christianity a system of articles of belief? Never. It would be better for a man to hold the most obnoxious untruths, opinions the most irreverent, if at the same time he lived in the faith of the Son of God, that is trusted in God as the Son of God trusted in him, than for him to hold every formula of belief perfectly true, and yet know nothing of a daily life and walk with God. The one, holding doctrines of devils, is yet a child of God. The other, holding doctrines of Christ is of the world — yes, of the devil.
To hold to a doctrine or an opinion with the intellect alone is not to believe it. A man’s real belief is that which he lives by. If a man lives by the love of God, and obedience to God’s law, as far as he has recognized it, then whatever wrong opinions the man holds are outside of him. They are not true, and they cannot really be inside any good man. At the same time, no matter how many correct opinions another man holds, if he does not order his life by the law of God’s love, he is not a child of God. What a man believes is the thing he does, not the thing he thinks.
— George MacDonald, Knowing the Heart of God, p. 20
It is perhaps the dominant human experience to always think “This is not enough.” We want more of all good things, and we ignore the fact that what we have is already enough, always. We want heaps of faith. We want heaps of worldly possessions. We want . . . It is the wanting that keeps us off-center and it is here again where prayers of gratitude begin to satiate the hungry heart. If we are saying “Thank you God for exactly what I have right now,” then we are less likely to be mentally demanding more. When we are focused on the abundance that we do have, then we are able to let go of needing always to have more. What we have is actually doing us quite nicely — if only we can see it, which we so often cannot.
— Julia Cameron, Faith and Will, p. 89
A just man is one who cares, and tries, and always tries, to give fair play to everyone in everything. When we speak of the justice of God, let us see that we do indeed mean justice! Punishment of the guilty may be involved in justice, but it does not constitute the justice of God one atom more than it would constitute the justice of a man.
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 197
You need not apologize for being brilliant, talented, gorgeous, rich, or smart. Your success doesn’t take away from anyone else’s. It actually increases the possibility that others can have it too. Your money increases your capacity to give money to others, your joy increases your capacity to give joy to others, and your love increases your capacity to give love to others. Your playing small serves no one. It is a sick game. It is old thinking, and it is dire for the planet. Stop it immediately. Come home to the castle.
— Marianne Williamson, A Woman’s Worth, p. 54
Ours is an abundant world, but it seldom seems that way when we are demanding more. When we say “Thy will, not mine,” we are saying, “This is enough,” and in saying that, we may actually have that experience. This is an experience of acceptance, and acceptance is usually the sticking point when it comes to our will versus God’s. We would accept God’s will for us if we could just see where it was going. If God would just give us a glimpse of what we were being prepared for, then we would go along with God’s preparations. If we are all indeed being brought along like fighters, then there is nothing random in what we are given. We are given just what we need at all times to further our spiritual growth, fund our spiritual development.
— Julia Cameron, Faith and Will, p. 89
Though it was not part of a lesson plan, it imparted a truth that left me spellbound. Great words, arranged with cunning and artistry, could change the perceived world for some readers. From the beginning, I’ve searched out those writers unafraid to stir up the emotions, who entrust me with their darkest passions, their most indestructible yearnings, and their most soul-killing doubts. I trust the great novelists to teach me how to live, how to feel, how to love and hate. I trust them to show me the dangers I will encounter on the road as I stagger on my own troubled passage through a complicated life of books that try to teach me how to die.
— Pat Conroy, My Reading Life, p. 10-11
It is not the sins they have done, but the sins they will not leave, that damn men. “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness, rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.”
— George MacDonald, Wisdom to Live By, p. 188
Let us imagine a woman’s life improving as she ages. Age doesn’t have to be bad. It could, in fact, be magnificent, if we would take our spiritual lives more seriously. Throughout our twenties and thirties, we care so much about what the Joneses think, even if we think we don’t. These two decades are the time when we’re most tempted to try to live for others. Around forty, it occurs to us that the Joneses are either going to like us or they’re not, that the Joneses have holes in their socks too, thank you, and that we have less control over what other people think than we ever imagined.
— Marianne Williamson, A Woman’s Worth, p. 49