Quotes by C.S. Lewis

“Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they (the gods) hear the babble we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?”

“And besides, when you love somebody, you mustnt listen to what they say. They say things to hurt you because theyre afraid of being hurt themselves. You must look at their eyes...and feel their hearts!”

“Talent? What is talent but the ability to get away with something?”

“But to hint and hover...when we most wish to be free of them; what is this but cat-and-mouse play, blindmans bluff, a mere jugglery? Why must holy places be dark places?”

“When you meet anything thats going to be human and isnt yet, or used to be human once and isnt now, or ought to be human and isnt, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.”

“I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless that is good for us to wait.”

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire 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, we are like ignorant children who want to continue making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a vacation at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

“When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it. He has been a party to, has made, sustained and moved moment by moment within, all our earthly experiences of innocent love.”

“The perfect church service,would be one we were almost unaware of.Our attention would have been on God.”

“The difference between pretty and beautiful is-pretty is temporal-whereas beautiful is eternal.”

“If it can be conceived at all - it must exist.”

“Love is the will to extend ones self-in order to nuture-ones own or anothers spiritual growth.”

“Gods eternal laws are kind-and break the heart of stone.”

“Life has a higher end,than to be amused.”

“You can bear anything-if it isnt your own fault.”

“Once he drew-with one long kiss-My whole soul through his lips.”

“Well,well,well. You go around grinning all your life - and then its over.”

“We are what we believe we are.”

“A man is sometimes entitled to hurt (or even, in my opinion, to kill) his fellow, but only where the necessity is urgent and the good to be obtained is obvious[...]. To turn this into a general charter for afflicting humanity because affliction is good for them [...] is not indeed to break the Divine scheme but to volunteer for the post of Satan within that scheme. If you do his work, you must be prepared for his wages.”

“There are no ordinary people.”