A Wrinkle in Time Quotes
The 8 most famous lines from Madeleine L'Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (1962), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.
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“Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.”
- Mrs Whatsit. Chapter 1 - the sentence that detonates the plot. (A Wrinkle in Time, 1962)
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“Just because we don't understand doesn't mean that the explanation doesn't exist.”
- the novel. On mystery and science - a thesis the whole book enacts. (WikiQuote, Madeleine L'Engle page)
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“You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you.”
- Mrs Whatsit. The sonnet metaphor from the final chapters: life hands you fourteen lines, you write the poem. (WikiQuote)
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“It was a dark and stormy night.”
- The narrator. The famous opening line.
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“Wild nights are my glory.”
- Mrs Whatsit. Her arrival in the storm, wrapped in scarves.
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“We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.”
- Mrs Whatsit. Her farewell to the children on Camazotz.
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“The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
- Mrs Who, quoting Corinthians. Why she speaks mostly in quotation.
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“I do not know everything; still many things I understand.”
- Mrs Who, quoting Goethe. Her parting gift to Meg — the words that come back at the climax.
Why these lines survive
Madeleine L'Engle’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 8 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.
Quote collectors: pair this page with the A Wrinkle in Time quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 3 hours and 26 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like A Wrinkle in Time list is next.
How to use a quotes page
Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of Madeleine L'Engle are an invitation, not a summary.
More quote collections
Dune quotes, Ender's Game quotes, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy quotes, Project Hail Mary quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most famous quote from A Wrinkle in Time?
“Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.” - the line most readers meet first. The full list above gives the scene for every one of the 8.
How many A Wrinkle in Time quotes are here?
8, chosen because they are the lines readers actually underline and repeat - each with who says it and where it lands in the book.
Are these quotes explained?
Yes - every quote carries its speaker and a one-line context, because a quote without its scene loses most of its charge.
Can I use these in an essay or post?
Short quoted lines with attribution are standard fair use in essays and posts. Quote accurately, name the author, and you are on solid ground.
Are these A Wrinkle in Time quotes word-for-word accurate?
They are checked against the novel as written, not harvested from quote sites - which is why a few famous “lines” you may have seen elsewhere are missing here: many of those come from film adaptations or paraphrase the prose. What is listed above is the book.