March 4, 2011

C. S. Lewis

A few of my favorite C. S. Lewis quotes.

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

"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."

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

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one."

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing."

"We read to know that we are not alone."

- - -

What are your favorite lines from Sir Lewis?

9 comments:

Marian said...
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Marian said...

I love this line from The Magician's Nephew:

"I don't know that I care much about living on and on after everyone I know is dead. I'd rather live an ordinary time and die and go to Heaven."

Simple and straightforward, but brilliant.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one."

So true!

whisper said...

Indeed; that is a wonderful quote! C. S. was so good at putting truths in refreshing, concise ways. His writing on heaven is particularly wonderful; "The Last Battle" affected me like no other book yet has.

Jake said...

Fantastic quotes, Whisper. I have heard the latter friendship one before, but the rest are new to me. Lewis, like Chesterton, is extremely quotable and witty.

“The value of myth is that it takes all the things you know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by the veil of familiarity.” ~C. S. Lewis

Some epic thoughts from him regarding what is now known as Christian fantasy. :) I love that quote.

whisper said...

Ah that he is, that he is! I heard of your recent Chesterson mood and have been greatly entertained by his quotes you have been sprinkling into conversations. :)

Ahhh.... that is a wonderful Lewis quote! I will store it away in my Mighty Stash of Quotes. >_>

-whisper

Anonymous said...

this one applies to me - "We read to know that we are not alone."

whisper said...

Ah yes; it applies to me, too. :)

Unknown said...

I love the second-to-last one... I think I'll mark that down!

Unknown said...

Haha, I just realized that the reason I liked it was because I had already heard of it before, and I had already it marked on my list of favorite quotes. :-) (It did seem sort of familiar...)

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