Quality Quotes

C.S. Lewis

(1898 – 1963)

Have I ever mentioned that I adore C.S. Lewis? Every time I pick up one of his works it's like spending time with an beloved old friend. I have read several biographies on him and a plethora of his writings. Every time I read something with his name on it, I come away with new found insights and things on which to ponder. He certainly was a man of unparalleled genius. He shied away from Christianity for years on account of one of his atheist professors in college and various life experiences. However, he later became what he called "the most dejected and reluctant convert." If there was one chance in a million that Jesus was right in saying that he was the only way, he couldn't take that chance. After years of searching for the truth, he did indeed find the Truth. God certainly used this brilliant man and his eloquent and thought-provoking words to impact many a generation.

So without further ado, here are some new-found quotes from Lewis that inspired me today:

• "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." - The Problem of Pain

• "You cannot go on 'explaining away' for ever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it." - C.S. Lewis

• "My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" - Mere Christianity

• "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." – Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.

• "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival."- C.S. Lewis

• "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself." - C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

• "I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity." - C.S. Lewis (I love this one!)

• "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." - C.S. Lewis (Weight of Glory and Other Addresses)

• "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." - C.S. Lewis

• "You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you." - C.S. Lewis

Ok, so I could go on and on with good quotes from Lewis, but that is because his works are so wonderful! If you haven't picked up a book by Lewis, I highly encourage you to do so. Next I think I want to read his book Reflection on the Psalms. Mmm, I can't wait!