Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
Like and equal are not the same thing at all. -- Meg Murray
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the distinction between liking someone and treating them as an equal.
In this quote by Madeleine L'Engle, the author highlights the difference between the concepts of liking and equality. While we may have positive feelings towards someone or something, it does not inherently mean we view them as equals. This thought provokes deeper reflection on how relationships and interactions in society can often conflate these two ideas, urging us to recognize that true equality involves respect and acknowledgment of each other's worth beyond mere affection.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about friendships and social dynamics, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of respect in relationships.
More from Madeleine L'Engle
All quotes βGeorge MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
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The effect of violent dislike between groups has always created an indifference to the welfare and honor of the state.
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.
I have done my fiddling so long under Vesuvius that I have almost forgotten to play, and can only wait for the eruption and think it long of coming. Literally no man has more wholly outlived life than I. And still it's good fun.
There is nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.
Nobody ever completely means what they say. Even when they think they're telling the truth, there's always something hidden behind their words.
They can print statistics and count the populations in hundreds of thousands, but to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and a city exists no longer except as a pain in the memory, like a pain of an amputated leg no longer there.