“The only way to cope with something deadly serious is to try to treat it a little lightly.”

— Madeleine L'Engle

Source: A Wrinkle in Time: With Related Readings

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Madeleine L'Engle 223

American writer 1918–2007

Benjamin Nugent (1950) American writer

Source: American Nerd: The Story of My People

“The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment.”

Deborah Moggach (1948) English writer

Source: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

“Any serious attempt to try to do something worthwhile is ritualistic.”

Derek Walcott (1930–2017) Saint Lucian–Trinidadian poet and playwright

Interview with Ed Hirsch (1986), Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, Eighth Series (Penguin, 1988)

“If you hold a wooden staff with a tight grip and try to raise it overhead, it feels quite heavy. If you hold it lightly it feels light. In the same way you should not approach things with too serious an attitude. Take a lighter point of view. In other words, think positively.”

Koichi Tohei (1920–2011) Japanese aikidoka

53
Ki Sayings (2003)

“Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.” Master Ittei commented, “Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”

Tsunetomo Yamamoto book Hagakure

Source: Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

“Humor is also a way of saying something serious.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

“People are too various to be treated so lightly. I am too various to be trusted.”

James Baldwin book Giovanni's Room

Source: Giovanni's Room

“A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Attributed to Carlyle in Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends And Influence People (1936), but this quotation is not found in Carlyle's known works. The first mention found in Google Books dates from 1908, where the Rev. John Timothy Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Timothy_Stone is quoted as claiming: 'The greatest critics of this world have been appreciators. Carlyle said, "You can discover a great man, or see a great man, by the way he treats little men.'
The quotation is subsequently found in slightly different forms, mostly in religious publications: "A great man shows his greatness by manner in which he treats little men" (1913, unattributed); The exact wording of Carnegie's quote suggests that it was taken from Stone's 1930 publication.
Disputed

“Plague was plague, and could not be treated lightly. And this plague was obviously worse than most, having killed everyone in the region.”

Kim Stanley Robinson book The Years of Rice and Salt

Book 1: "Awake to Emptiness", Ch. 2
The Years of Rice and Salt (2002)

“The easiest way to cope with complexity is not having it.”

Carlos Gershenson (1978) Mexican researcher

Treo Notes (December 2006 - December 2009)

“The only way to cope with something deadly serious is to try to treat it a little lightly.”

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Madeleine L'Engle 223

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