Quotes by C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Irish novelist and poet

Lived from: 1898 - 1963

Category: Writers (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited Kingdom

Born: 29 november 1898 Died: 22 november 1963

  • Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.
  • God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
  • What we call Man's power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.
  • There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."
  • The proper motto is not Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever, but Be good sweet maid, and don't forget that this involves being as clever as you can. God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than any other slackers.
  • There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ''Thy will be done,'' and those to whom God says, ''All right, then, have it your way.''
  • A man who is eating or lying with his wife or preparing to go to sleep in humility, thankfulness and temperance, is, by Christian standards, in an infinitely higher state than one who is listening to Bach or reading Plato in a state of pride.
  • Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.
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  • Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
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  • If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.
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  • A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.
    The problem of pain p. 41
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  • All joy emphasises our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.
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  • Faith... is the art of holding on to things your reason once accepted, despite your changing moods.
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  • Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey 'people.' People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war... Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.
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  • 'Are the gods not just?'
    'Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were?'
    Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (1956) Orual & The Fox
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  • A man who is eating or lying with his wife or preparing to go to sleep in humility, thankfulness and temperance, is, by Christian standards, in an infinitely higher state than one who is listening to Bach or reading Plato in a state of pride.
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  • A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you.
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  • A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.
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  • A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.
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  • Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.
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  • Aim at heaven, and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth, and you will get neither.
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  • All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.
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  • All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
    The Chronicles of Narnia (1950) The Last Battle (1956), Closing lines, in Ch. 16 :
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  • An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.
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  • And I say also this. I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes.
    Out of the Silent Planet (1938) Hyoi, p. 76
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  • As for wrinkles-Pshaw! Why shouldn't we have wrinkles? Honorable insignia of long service in this warfare.
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  • As long as this deliberate refusal to understand things from above, even where such understanding is possible, continues, it is idle to talk of any final victory over materialism.
    The Weight of Glory (1949)
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  • Autumn is really the best of the seasons; and I'm not sure that old age isn't the best part of life. But of course, like autumn, it doesn't last.
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What are the most famous quotes from C. S. Lewis?

The two most famous quotes from C. S. Lewis are:

  • "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival."
  • "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this."

When did C. S. Lewis live?

C. S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in the year 1963.