I discovered CS Lewis totally by accident, in the pell-mell way I tend to approach most things. He had me at “hello.” I plan to spend a lot of time with him–and Walt Whitman, when I die. I might not mind being the plural wife of CS Lewis, actually. MIGHT not. I might, too. Never know. But when I was looking for that quote, I found (in some cases, rediscovered) these great quotes. There are probably thousands of others. Thought I’d share Mr. Lewis’ wonderful foods for thought (however it’s grammatically correct) with you guys. What a guy. A confirmed bachelor and atheist who fell head over heels in love with God and woman. Can’t wait to meet him.

“The great thing is, if one can, to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions in one’s own or real life. The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one’s life.”

“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” ”

“You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”

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

“She’s the sort of woman who lives for others – you can tell the others by their hunted expression.”

“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

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.” C.S. Lewis

I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.” C.S. Lewis

“When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.”
C.S. Lewis (I think it was Elder Packer who I heard call them compensatory blessings)

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”
C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

“Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else.”
C.S. Lewis

“I never exactly made a book. It’s rather like taking dictation. I was given things to say. ”
C.S. Lewis

“There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.”
C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

“Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture. You can’t see it. So quietly submit to be painted—i.e., keep fulfilling all the obvious duties of your station (you really know quite well enough what they are!), asking forgiveness for each failure and then leaving it alone.You are in the right way. Walk—don’t keep on looking at it.”
C.S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963

“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” The Screwtape Letters

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.” C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

“I seemed to hear God saying, “Put down your gun and we’ll talk.”

When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

“If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake.”

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