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C. S. Lewis Quotes

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Famous C. S. Lewis Quotes

“Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means undergoing a kind of death. In fact, it needs a good man to repent. And here's the catch. Only a bad person needs to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly. The worse you are the more you need it and the less you can do it. The only person who could do it perfectly would be a perfect person - and he would not need it.”

MenNeedsYearsKindMeanPersonsHas BeensSelfFactsWould BeFunCan DoPerfectEatingTrainingHarderHumbleGood ManRepentancePieYou Can Do ItRepentGood PersonConceitSelf WillPerfect PersonHumble PieEating Humble Pie
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“Both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporary suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say 'Let me but have this and I'll take the consequences': little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin.”

InspirationalLittlesDreamPastSufferingTurnsEvilHeavenReligiousSinPleasureKnowingGloryConsequenceLet MeSpreadMortalsBlissGood And EvilTemporaryNot KnowingAgonyBackwardsDamnationRetrospectiveGreat Divorce
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven.”

InspirationalShouldSelfAbleJoyUniverseHeavenTermReligiousHellTasteDemandFinalsConsentBlackmailLovelessVetoGreat Divorce
Book:The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis
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“The action of Pity leaps quicker than light from the highest place to the lowest to bring healing and joy, whatever the cost to itself. It changes darkness into light and evil into good. But it will not, at the cunning tears of Hell, impose on good the tyranny of evil. Every disease that submits to a cure shall be cured: but we will not call blue yellow to please those who insist on having jaundice, nor make a midden of the world's garden for the sake of some who cannot abide the smell of roses.”

WorldInspirationalLightActionJoyEvilReligiousHealingDarknessHellTearsPleaseCostDiseaseHighestGardenBlueRoseSakeSmellTyrannyPityCuresLeapYellowSubmitLowestCunningJaundice
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike. Subjectivism about moral values is eternally incompatible with democracy. We and our rulers are of one kind only so long as we are subject to one law. But if there is no Law of Nature, the ethos of any society is the creation of its rulers, educators and conditioners; and every creator stands above and outside his own creation.”

IfsKindLongIdeasLawValuesMoralDemocracySubjectsCreationCreatorObjectivesRulersLaws Of NatureEducatorEthosMoral ValuesMoral LawSubjectivism
Book:Christian Reflections
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“... believing in a God whom we cannot but regard as evil, and then, in mere terrified flattery calling Him 'good' and worshipping him is a still greater danger... The ultimate question is whether the doctrine of the goodness of God or that of the inerrancy of scripture is to prevail when they conflict. I think the doctrine of the goodness of God is the more certain of the two. Indeed, only that doctrine renders this worship of Him obligatory or even permissable.”

ThinkingBelieveStillsTwoCertainEvilGreaterDangerCallingConflictGoodnessWorshipUltimateRegardMereScriptureDoctrineTerrifiedFlatteryGoodness Of GodUltimate Questions
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“The modern State exists not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good - anyway, to do something to us or to make us something. Hence the new name 'leaders' for those who were once 'rulers'. We are less their subjects than their wards, pupils, or domestic animals. There is nothing left of which we can say to them, 'Mind your own business.' Our whole lives are their business.”

MindStatesWholeNamesLeftAnimalLeaderRightsModernSubjectsProtectWhole LifeRulersPupilsOwn BusinessMind Your Own BusinessMind Your Own
Author:C. S. Lewis
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