“To give truth to him who loves it not is but to give him more multiplied reasons [plentiful material] for misinterpretation.”
George MacDonald, Minister, poet, and novelist (1824 — 1905)
I am coming to believe that this quote suffers from the same symptoms with which Jim Elliot’s “He is no fool” quote is beset, in that there are many variations floating around out there and little to suggest which has greater veracity. Another possibility is that the author may have communicated, in print or person, the same meaningful phrase multiple times and perhaps not the same way every time. The first time I heard Ravi Zacharias relate this quotation it was with the “more multiplied reasons” wording and that remains my favorite, but I’ve subsequently heard him quote it as “more plentiful reasons” and so I am left in doubt if one or the other is really more accurate. Searching the interwebs I find both versions in similar abundance.