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C. S. Lewis Quotes

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Famous C. S. Lewis Quotes

“Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live for ever, and this must be either true or false. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only seventy years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live for ever.”

IfsYearsHumansIndividualHuman BeingsChristianityBotherGood ManSeventiesTrue Or False
Book:The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics
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“We want to know not how we should pray if we were perfect but how we should pray being as we now are ... It is no use to ask God with factitious earnestness for A when our whole mind is in reality filled with the desire for B. We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”

IfsKnowsWantShouldMindWholeUseRealityDesireAsksPerfectOughtPrayingFilledLaysEarnestness
Book:Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
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“But as for Aslan himself, the Beavers and the children didn't know what to do or say when they saw him. People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children had ever thought so, they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look at Aslan's face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn't look at him and went all trembly.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsLooksChildrenSometimesEyeFacesSpiritualFoundSawsTerribleCaughtBe GoodGoldenOverwhelmingRoyalGlimpseSolemnNarniaBeavers
Book:The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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“If human life is in fact ordered by a beneficent being whose knowledge of our real needs and of the way in which they can be satisfied infinitely exceeds our own, we must expect a priori that his operations will often appear to us far from beneficent and far from wise, and that it will be our highest prudence to give him our confidence in spite of this.”

IfsWayNeedsGivingHumansRealFactsLife IsWiseHighestSatisfiedHuman LifeOperationsSpitePrudenceExceed
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“In the ancient world individuals have sold themselves as slaves, in order to eat. So in society. Here is a witch-doctor who can save us from the sorcerers - a war-lord who can save us from the barbarians - a Church that can save us from Hell. Give them what they ask, give ourselves to them bound and blindfold, if only they will! Perhaps the terrible bargain will be made again. We cannot blame men for making it. We can hardly wish them not to. Yet we can hardly bear that they should.”

IfsMenWorldGivingShouldMadeWarGovernmentOrderAsksIndividualWishChurchLordHellBearsTerribleDoctorsBlameSlaveBoundsAncientWitchDoctor WhoBargainsBarbariansBlame MeAncient WorldBlindfoldsWitch Doctors
Author:C. S. Lewis
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“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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“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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“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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“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.”

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Author:C. S. Lewis
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