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C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis Quotes

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Famous C. S. Lewis Quotes

“Don't you understand anything? Isn't it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and a fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified of the other? That's how we get things done. Any opposition to the N.I.C.E. is represented as a Left racket in the Right papers and a Right racket in the Left papers. If it's properly done, you get each side outbidding the other in support of us-to refute the enemy slanders. Of course we're non-political. The real power always is.”

IfsRealDonePoliticalCoursesLeftSidesEnemySupportTelevisionEssentialsPaperOppositionFierceTerrifiedToesPapersThings DoneSlanderRacketReal PowerNon Political
Book:That Hideous Strength
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“To live his life in his own way, to call his house his castle, to enjoy the fruits of his own labour, to educate his children as his conscience directs, to save for their prosperity after his death -- these are wishes deeply ingrained in civilised man. Their realization is almost as necessary to our virtues as to our happiness. From their total frustration disastrous results both moral and psychological might follow.”

MenWayChildrenWisdomMightHouseWishEnjoyResultsMoralVirtueConscienceFruitProsperityPsychologicalRealizationFrustrationLabourEducateCastlesCivilised
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“Our souls demand Purgatory, don't they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into joy? Should we not reply, With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I'd rather be cleansed first. It may hurt, you know-even so, sir.”

IfsKnowsShouldFirstsHeartMaySaidSoulJoyHurtBreakSonDemandDrawsBreathsSmellMy SonMudSubmissionObjectionsCharitableAway From YouRagsPurgatorySlimeUpbraid
Book:Joyful Christian
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“We must beware of the Past, mustn't we? I mean that any fixing of the mind on old evils beyond what is absolutely necessary for repenting our own sins and forgiving those of others is certainly useless and usually bad for us. Notice in Dante that the lost souls are entirely concerned with their past! Not so the saved.”

MindMeanSoulPastEvilLostSinConcernedForgivingSavedUselessRepentFixingLost Souls
Book:Letters to an American Lady
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“Many a man, brought up in the glib profession of some shallow form of Christianity, who comes through reading Astronomy to realize for the first time how majestically indifferent most reality is to man, and who perhaps abandons his religion on that account, may at that moment be having his first genuinely religious experience.”

MenFirstsMayMomentsRealityFormReadingRealizingReligiousChristianityFirst TimeAccountsProfessionAstronomyAbandonThat MomentIndifferentShallowReligious Experience
Book:Miracles: A Preliminary Study
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“Morality is a mountain which we cannot climb by our own efforts; and if we could we should only perish in the ice and unbreathable air of the summit, lacking those wings with which the rest of the journey has to be accomplished. For it is from there that the real ascent begins. The ropes and axes are 'done away' and the rest is a matter of flying.”

IfsShouldRealMatterDoneEffortAirJourneyMoralityMountainWingsFlyingIceAccomplishedClimbsLackingRopeSummitAscentAxes
Book:A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis
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“I can answer that only by hearsay, returned the Guide, for pain is a secret which he has shared with your race and not with mine; and you would find it as hard to explain suffering to me as I would find it to reveal to you the secrets of the Mountain people. But those who know best say this, that any liberal man would choose the pain of this desire, even for ever, rather than the peace of feeling it no longer; and that though the best thing is to have, the next best is to want, and the worst of all is not to want.”

PeopleKnowsMenWantI CanHardFeelingsPainDesireSufferingNextAnswersSecretRaceWorstMinesMountainGuidesBest ThingsHearsay
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“A faith in culture is as bad as a faith in religion; both expressions imply a turning away from those very things which culture and religion are about. Culture as a collective name for certain very valuable activities is a permissible word; but culture hypostatized, set up on its own, made into a faith, a cause, a banner, a platform, is unendurable. For none of the activities in question cares a straw for that faith or cause. It is like a return to early Semitic religion where names themselves were regarded as powers.”

MadeCareCertainCultureNamesCausesExpressionReturnActivityValuableCollectivesPlatformsStrawsBannerUnendurableCulture And Religion
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“What I like about experience is that it is such an honest thing. You may take any number of wrong turnings; but keep your eyes open and you will not be allowed to go very far before the warning signs appear. You may have deceived yourself, but experience is not trying to deceive you. The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it.”

TryingMayEyeUniverseNumbersHonestTestsExperienceRingsWarningDeceivingDeceivedWrong TurnWarning Signs
Book:Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
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“We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities, and anyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

IfsKnowsWorldPainSpeakSinPleasureEatingConscienceStupidityDeafExquisite
Author:C. S. Lewis
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