C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewiswas a British novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, broadcaster, lecturer, and Christian apologist. He held academic positions at both Oxford University, 1925–54, and Cambridge University, 1954–63. He is best known for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth29 November 1898
CountryIreland
You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.
It still remains true that no justification of virtue will enable a man to be virtuous.
We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it.
Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is.
Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it.
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.
It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.
Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you.
If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons.
Hitherto the plans of the educationalists have achieved very little of what they attempted, and indeed we may well thank the beneficent obstinacy of real mothers, real nurses, and (above all) real children for preserving the human race in such sanity as it still possesses.
No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice.
Talk to me about the truth of religion and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand.
We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.