C.S. Lewis Quotes

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.

Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.

The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal.

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.

If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

God whispers in our pleasures, but shouts in our pain.

We are all fallen creatures and all very hard to live with.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.

There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

This moment contains all moments.

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.

I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to "rejoice" as much as by anything else.

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.

When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.

You play the hand you're dealt. I think the game's worthwhile.

He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart.

Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.

God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.