CS Lewis Quotes

The most important part of living is not the living but the pondering upon it.

The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play: our instincts are merely the keys.

It was not for societies or states, that Christ died, but for men.

The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven.

Liking an author may be as involuntary and improbable as falling in love.

I never see why we should do anything unless it is either a duty or a pleasure! Life's short enough without filling up hours unnecessarily

The gift finds the man attractive who stands with an empty bowl he does not own.

The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is the hand over your whole self--all your wishes and precautions--to Christ.

Uncovering secrets is apocalyptic in the simple sense (the Greek root means ‘an uncovering’). In this case, it lifts the shame covers. It allows articulation to enter where silence once ruled.

They who in folly or mere greed Enslaved religion, markets, laws, Borrow our language now and bid Us to speak up in freedom's cause.

I'm not running for state Senate because I wanted to become a politician. I'm running because I wanted to serve.

I am a product [...of] endless books.

I#pray because the need flows out of me all the time-walking and sleeping. It does not change #‎ God - it changes me.

It is because they have no Oyarsa,' said one of the pupils. It is because everyone of them wants to be a little Oyarsa himself,' said Augray.

The great city is the best organ of memory man has yet created.

It is in some ways more troublesome to track and swat an evasive wasp than to shoot, at close range, a wild elephant. But the elephant is more troublesome if you miss.

I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself.

There are always practical decisions to be made about any character you're playing.

The process of living seems to consist in coming to realize truths so ancient and simple that, if stated, they sound like barren platitudes.

You may imagine the joy manifested by these poor Africans, when they heard one of their own color address them in a friendly manner, and in a language they could comprehend!

Length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery.

The general perception, in much of the Middle East, is that the United States is an unreliable friend and a harmless enemy. I think we want to give the exact opposite impression.

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger, Strike the bell and bide the danger, Or wonder, till it drives you mad, What would have followed if you had.

We must lay before him what is in us; not what ought to be in us.

It is always allowable to ask for artichoke jelly with your boiled venison; however there are houses where this is not supplied.

The surest way of spoiling a pleasure [is] to start examining your satisfaction.

We do not want to merely “see” beauty. We want to be united with it, to receive it into ourselves, to become part of it.

Isn't it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified of the other? That's how we get things done.

Very often there's this misapprehension about actors being people that need to display themselves, to reveal themselves in public.

Perhaps I'm particularly serious, because I'm not unaware of the potential absurdity of what I'm doing.

I don't see how he can ever finish, if he doesn't begin.

I enjoy trying to develop a car and Mercedes are one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world.

I'm very often still very much alive for that other being and that other world long after the film is finished

Those that hate goodness are sometimes nearer than those that know nothing at all about it and think they have it.

There's nothing worse than finding yourself in a situation, a very demanding piece of work, and knowing that you're not a true ally to the person who's in charge of all that.

Imagine yourself as a living house.

Where, except in the present, can the eternal be met?

I'm woefully one-track-minded.

I'm undisputed and there's no disputing that.

It isn't necessary to seek out adventure. Opening to what is around you will produce the most extraordinary experiences.

Badness cannot succeed even in being bad in the same way in which goodness is good. Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness. Evil is a parasite, not an original thing.

Any moment that opens us up to the reality that life is good is a parable of the supreme end for which we were made.

Our temptation is to look eagerly for the minimum that will be accepted. We are in fact very like honest but reluctant taxpayers.

If you don't listen to theology, that won't mean you have no ideas about God, it will mean you have a lot of wrong ones.

A man is never so proud as when striking an attitude of humility.

An unliterary man may be defined as one who reads books once only.

I am in love and out of it I will not go.

God is not an optional extra, He's an absolute must!

If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer.

The unhistorical are usually, without knowing it, enslaved to a fairly recent past.