If you do not know C. S. Lewis is the former English literature professor at Oxford University, a famous Christian apologist, a successful writer and the most quoted author on Twitter. He was a close friend with J. R. R. Tolkien, and together they were a part of the informal Oxford literary group called Inklings.
His best works are The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain. He wrote more than 30 books that have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold in a million copies. You can watch the movie The Chronicles of Narnia based on his book.
He returned to Anglicanism at the age of 32 with the help of Tolkien and other friends at University, even though he was baptized in the Church of Ireland when he was born. On the 50th anniversary of his death, he got a memorial in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. If you want to find out what are his best quotes from his most famous works, just continue reading this article.
- ‘’God cannot give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing’’.
- ‘’The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.’’
- ‘’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.’’
- ‘’True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.’’
- ‘’I did not 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 do not recommend Christianity.’’
- ‘’He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been only man-made, He would have done no less.’’
- ‘’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.’’
- ‘’It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.’’
- ‘’Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.’’
- ‘’I think if God forgives us, we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.’’
- ‘’If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.’’
- ‘’It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.’’
- ‘’We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.’’
- ‘’If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.’’
- ‘’Die before you die, there is no chance after.’’
- ‘’No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.’’
- ‘’ There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.’’
- ‘’Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning…’’
- ‘’When you argue against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.’’
- ‘’A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.’’
- ‘’Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.’’
- ‘’Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.’’
- ‘’Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘’What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’’
- ‘’ Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.’’
- ‘’ Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.’’
- ‘’ What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.’’
- ‘’ We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore, starved for meditation and true friendship.’’
- ‘’ We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.’’
- ‘’Crying is all right in its own way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.’’
- ‘’ Love is something sterner and more splendid than mere kindness.’’
- ‘’ I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt those who keep silence hurt more.’’
- ‘’No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.’’
- ‘’God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.’’
- ‘’ The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.’’
- ‘’God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than He is of any other slacker.’’
- ‘’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.’’
- ‘’ Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.’’
- ‘’The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only- and that is to support the ultimate career.’’
- ‘’Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.’’
- ‘’What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.’’
- ‘’You would not have called to me unless I had been calling you, ’said the Lion.’’
- ‘’Adventures are never fin while you are having them.’’
- ‘’Do not dare not to dare.’’
- ’’We are what we believe we are.’’
- ’’Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.’’
- ‘’Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather make a man a more clever devil.’’
- ’’No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.’’
- ’’ In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s, we do not accept them easily enough.’’
- ’’ Of all the bad men, religious bad men are the worst.’’
- ’’ It is not your business to succeed, but to do right; when you have done so, the rest lies with God.’’
- ’’ Human history is the long terrible story of a man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.’’
- ’’ You must ask for God’s help. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again.’’
- ’’Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods.’’
- ’’One road leads home and a thousand roads lead into the wilderness.’’
- ’’ If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something, which will take the whole of you.’’
- ’’ 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.’’
- ’’There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.’’
- ’’ Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.’’
- ’’When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.’’
- ’’ God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’’
- ’’ The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.’’
- ’’ Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth.’’
- ’’ Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar.’’
- ’’ Forgiveness does not mean excusing.’’
- ’’ Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different…’’
- ’’ The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.’’
- ’’ Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.’’
- ’’ Joy is the serious business of Heaven.’’
- ’’ Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.’’
- ’’ Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.’’
- ’’Let’s pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere.’’
- ’’ Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence could not mean anything else.’’
- ’’ Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature.’’
- ’’ There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite.’’
- ’’ Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities.’’
- ’’ Jesus Christ did not say, ’’Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’’
- ’’ The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one’s life.’’
- ’’ I sometimes wonder if all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.’’
- ’’ There are only 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.’’
- ’’ To love at all is to be vulnerable.’’
- ’’ It is so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.’’
- ’’ All get what they want; they do not always like it.’’
- ’’ Reality is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect.’’
- ’’ Being in love first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise.
- ’’The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal.’’
- ’’What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.’’
- ’’ It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.’’
- ’’ All these toys were never intended to possess my heart. My true good is in another world, and my only real treasure is Christ.’’
- ’’ No good work is done anywhere without aid from the Father of Lights.’’
- ’’ To walk out of his will is to walk into nowhere.’’
- ’’ If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where should I Be now?’’
- ’’ Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.’’
- ’’ Though our feelings come and go, his love for us does not.’’
- ’’ Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.’’
- ’’ When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive.’’
- ’’ When you are arguing against God you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all.’’
- ’’ You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.’’
- ’’ 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.’’
- ’’ Courage, dear heart.’’
- ’’No great wisdom can be reached without sacrifice.’’
- ’’ 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.’’
- ’’You cannot love a fellow-creature fully till you love God.’’
- ’’ Affliction is often that thing which prepares an ordinary person for some sort of an extraordinary destiny.’’
- ’’ Don’t shine so others can see you. Shine so that through you others can see Him.’’
- ’’ Look for Christ and you will find him. And with Him, everything else’’
- ’’ If you look for truth may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.’’
- ’’ Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.’’
- ’’ Repentance means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into…It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.’’
- ’’The stamp of the Saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.’’
- ’’ Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.’’
