C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

34 quotes

Known primarily as a British writer, lay theologian, and scholar, C. S. Lewis also happens to be one of the most quotable figures in our collection. Known for the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, but he is also noted for his other works of fiction, such as The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, including Mere Christianity, Miracles and The Problem of Pain, their words carry the weight of lived experience. We feature 51 quotes from C. S. Lewis spanning God, Truth, Time, Religion, and Power, making them one of the most prolific voices in our archive. Perhaps their most recognizable line: "Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature."

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

— C. S. Lewis

Good

All Quotes by C. S. Lewis

“Long before history began we men have got together apart from the women and done things. We had time.”

— C. S. Lewis

History

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

— C. S. Lewis

Fear

“This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.”

— C. S. Lewis

Love

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”

— C. S. Lewis

Art

“Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.”

— C. S. Lewis

Time

“The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”

— C. S. Lewis

Future

“Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith but they are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the passion of Christ.”

— C. S. Lewis

Faith

“If you look for truth, you 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.”

— C. S. Lewis

Truth

“I gave in, and admitted that God was God.”

— C. S. Lewis

Faith

“Reason is the natural order of truth but imagination is the organ of meaning.”

— C. S. Lewis

Imagination

“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

“Thirty was so strange for me. I've really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult.”

— C. S. Lewis

Birthday

“Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.”

— C. S. Lewis

Happiness

“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.”

— C. S. Lewis

Religion

“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.'”

— C. S. Lewis

God

“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

— C. S. Lewis

Good

“Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.”

— C. S. Lewis

God

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”

— C. S. Lewis

Art

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.”

— C. S. Lewis

Failure

“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

War