Monday, June 23, 2008

A Wrinkle In Time

I just finished reading this children's book called A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle, who surprisingly gave a Christian twist to her series. Here are some phrases scattered through the book which I found interesting:

Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point (Pascal, French)
The heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing.

Ab honesto virum bonum nihil deterret (Seneca)
Nothing deters a good man from doing what is honourable.

Justitiae soror fides (Latin)
Faith is the sister of justice.

Come t'e picciol fallo amaro morso (Dante)
What grievous pain a little fault doth give thee

Finxerunt animi, raro et perpauca loquentis (Horace)
To action little, less to words inclined

Vitam impendere vero (Latin)
To stake one's life for the truth

Qui plus sait, plus se tait (French)
The more a man knows, the less he talks

Das werk lobt den meister (German)
The work proves the craftsman

La experiencia es la madre de la ciencia (Cervantes, Spanish)
Experience is the mother of knowledge

Que la terre est petite a qui la voit des cieux (Delille)
How small is the earth to him who looks from heaven

...For that he was a spirit too delicate
To act their earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing their grand hests, they did confine him
By help of their most potent minsters,
And in their most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprisoned, he didst painfully remain....
(The Tempest, Shakespeare)

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.
(1 Corinthians 1:25-28, King James Version)


2 comments:

John G said...

It's not a surprise... L'Engle was a devout Episcopalian who regularly attended services at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in upper Manhattan.

Plain Forgiven said...

Hi John,

Thank you for this nugget of information. No wonder.... :-)