“An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers. To define everything is to annihilate much that gives us laughter and joy.”
Section 1.10 <!-- p. 30 -->
The Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet (1972)
Context: Here we are living in a world of "identity crises," and most of us have no idea what an identity is.
Half the problem is that an identity is something which must be understood intuitively, rather than in terms of provable fact. An infinite question is often destroyed by finite answers. To define everything is to annihilate much that gives us laughter and joy.
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Madeleine L'Engle 223
American writer 1918–2007Related quotes
Source: Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times (1972), p. 177

Until then, stellar astronomy was a field left to the unaided imagination.
The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology (1949)
“Beauty often fades, but seldom so swiftly as the joy it gives us.”
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified

As quoted in Understanding the Infinite (1994) by Shaughan Lavine ~ ISBN 0674921178

As quoted in: Ṭhānissaro (Bhikkhu.) (2004) Handful of leaves. Vol. 3, p. 80