C. S. Lewis Quotes about Wisdom

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Religious, Freedom

"The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment". "God in the Dock". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1970.

Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Men, World

C. S. Lewis (1995). “The Screwtape Letters”, Bantam Classics

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.

C. S. Lewis

Life, Change, Wisdom

C.S. Lewis (1996). “Joyful Christian”, p.181, Simon and Schuster

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

C. S. Lewis

God, Wisdom, Humility

C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.114, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.

C. S. Lewis

Wise, Wisdom, Circles

C. S. Lewis (2013). “Selected Literary Essays”, p.99, Cambridge University Press

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.

C. S. Lewis

Christian, Wisdom, Thinking

C.S. Lewis (1996). “Joyful Christian”, p.138, Simon and Schuster

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.

C. S. Lewis

God, Wisdom, Atheist

C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.87, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Giving, Forever

We may think God wants actions of a certain kind, but God wants people of a certain kind.

C. S. Lewis

Life, Wisdom, Thinking

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Grief, Yawning

C.S. Lewis (2012). “A Grief Observed”, p.5, Faber & Faber

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.

C. S. Lewis

Inspirational, Wisdom, Miracle

C. S. Lewis (2014). “God in the Dock”, p.13, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Loneliness, Silence

"The Weight of Glory". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1949.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Eye, Dark

C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.38, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God's eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Prayer, Mean

"Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1963.

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.

C. S. Lewis

Life, Wisdom, Teacher

Regarding the debate about faith and works: It's like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most important.

C. S. Lewis

Faith, Wisdom, Important

If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is it that you don't feel at home there?

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Atheist, Home

C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.21, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

It is only our bad temper that we put down to being tired or worried or hungry; we put our good temper down to ourselves.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Tired, Hungry

C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.41, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, War, People

C. S. LEWIS (1947). “THE ABOLITION OF MAN”

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.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Grief, Talking

C.S. Lewis (2012). “A Grief Observed”, p.14, Faber & Faber

Certain things, if not seen as lovely or detestable, are not being correctly seen at all.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Lovely, Certain

C.S. Lewis (2005). “A Preface to Paradise Lost”, p.50, Atlantic Publishers & Dist

No doubt those who really founded modern science were usually those whose love of truth exceeded their love of power.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Doubt, Modern

C. S. LEWIS (1947). “THE ABOLITION OF MAN”

It is hard to have patience with people who say 'There is no death' or 'Death doesn't matter.' There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn't matter.

C. S. Lewis

Death, Wisdom, People

"A Grief Observed". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1961.

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

Wisdom, Philosophy, Goes On

C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.230, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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.

C. S. Lewis

Wisdom, Struggle, Cutting

C. S. Lewis Quotes about Wisdom

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