"Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties come prepared to forgive, neither party come prepared to be forgiven."
About Charles Williams
Charles Williams — Life and Legacy
Charles Williams was a significant figure in 20th-century literature, renowned for his intricate narratives that weave together fantasy and theology. His notable work, 'The Place of the Lion,' explores the interplay of love and imagination, reflecting his belief that these elements are essential to human experience. Williams's core thinking revolves around the idea that imagination is a powerful tool for understanding and transforming reality. He famously stated, 'The imagination is the only thing that can save us,' highlighting his conviction that creative thought can lead to profound insights and connections. This perspective challenges the notion of a purely rational worldview, suggesting that emotional and imaginative engagement is vital for personal and spiritual growth. Williams's exploration of love as a binding force in human relationships further underscores his belief in the necessity of emotional depth. His quotes continue to resonate today, inviting readers to reflect on the importance of imagination and love in navigating life's complexities.
Quote collection
Charles Williams quotes (page 1 of 2)
22 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The strong hands of God twisted the crown of thorns into a crown of glory; and in such hands we are safe."
"Unless devotion is given to the thing which must prove false in the end, the thing that is true in the end cannot enter."
"Play and pray; but on the whole do not pray when you are playing and do not play when you are praying."
"You can have money piled to the ceiling but the size of your funeral is still going to depend on the weather."
"The beginning of Christendom, is, strictly, at a point out of time. A metphysical trigonometry finds it among the spiritual Secrets, at the meeting of two heavenward lines, one drawn from Bethany along the Ascent of the Messias, the other from Jerusalem against the Descent of the Paraclete. That measurement, the measurement of eternity in operation, of the bright cloud and the rushing wind, is, in effect, theology."
"I think in order to move forward into the future, you need to know where you've been"
"To forgive and to be forgiven are the two points of holy magnificence and holy modesty; round these two centres the whole doctrine of largesse revolves."
"An hour's conversation on literature between two ardent minds with a common devotion to a neglected poet is a miraculous road to intimacy."
"The famous saying 'God is love', it is generally assumed, means that God is like our immediate emotional indulgence, not that the meaning of love ought to have something of the 'otherness' and terror of God"
"It is as pleasant as it is unusual to see thoroughly good people getting their deserts."
"It’s said that the shuffling of the cards is the earth, and the pattering of the cards is the rain, and the beating of the cards is the wind, and the pointing of the cards is the fire. That’s of the four suits. But the Greater Trumps, it’s said, are the meaning of all process and the measure of the everlasting dance."
"It may be a movement towards becoming like little children to admit that we are generally nothing else."
"It is easier often to forgive than to be forgiven; yet it is fatal to be willing to be forgiven by God and to be reluctant to be forgiven by men"
"Love was even more mathematical than poetry. It was the pure mathematics of the spirit."
"You will all know that in the Middle Ages there were supposed to be various classes of angels. these hierarchized celsitudes are but the last traces in a less philosophical age of the ideas which Plato taught his disciples existed in the spiritual world."
"How can one bargain for anything that is worth while? And what else is worth bargaining for?"
"The most he would do was to promise that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It is about all that, looking back on the history of the Church, one can feel that they have not done."
"The Divine Thing that made itself the foundation of the Church does not seem, to judge by his comments on the religious leadership of his day, to have hoped much from officers of a church."
""Nought usually comes at the beginning," Ralph said. "Not necessarily," said Sibyl. "It might come anywhere. Nought isn't a number at all. It's the opposite of number." Nancy looked up from the cards. "Got you, aunt," she said. "What about ten? Nought's a number there - it's part of ten." "Well, if you say that any mathematical arrangement of one and nought really makes ten - " Sibyl smiled. "Can it possibly be more than a way of representing ten?""