We tend to defend vigorously things that in our deepest hearts we are not quite certain about. If we are certain of something we know, it doesn't need defending.
Interpretation
People often feel compelled to protect their uncertain beliefs, while certain beliefs do not require defense.
This quote by Madeleine L'Engle suggests that when we are unsure about our beliefs or opinions, we may feel the need to defend them vigorously. In contrast, when we have strong conviction in something, we naturally stand by it without needing to justify our stance to others. It highlights the paradox of how uncertainty can provoke defensiveness, revealing the inner conflict between our beliefs and our doubts.
In practice
During a debate, one might quote this to remind others that defensiveness often stems from uncertainty.
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.
George 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.
The plain working truth is that it is not only good for people to be shocked occasionally, but absolutely necessary to the progress of society that they should be shocked pretty often.
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
The rise and fall of civilizations in the long, broad course of history can be seen to have been largely a function of the integrity and cogency of their supporting canons of myth; for not authority but aspiration is the motivator, builder, and transformer of civilization.
For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.
No one pays attention to these killings, but the secret of the world is hidden in them.
If state, party and social policy will not be based on morality, then mankind has no future to speak of.
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