The greatest evils in the world will not be carried out by men with guns, but by men in suits sitting behind desks.The Screwtape Letters, 1942
Author · 31 quotes
C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) was a British writer, scholar, and novelist most famous for his works of fiction, including "The Chronicles of Narnia" series. He was also a prominent Christian apologist, known for his compelling essays and books on faith and Christianity. Lewis held academic positions at both Oxford and Cambridge University, where he was a respected literary critic and medievalist.
1898–1963·lived 64 years
The greatest evils in the world will not be carried out by men with guns, but by men in suits sitting behind desks.The Screwtape Letters, 1942
We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.
Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.
Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.
There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
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.
To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.
Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.
When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.
Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .
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.
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.Mere Christianity, p. 121, 1952
What is a disloyal act? A person is disloyal if he treats you as a stranger when, in fact, he belongs to you as a friend or partner. Each of us is bound to some special others by the invisible fibers of loyalty. Lewis B.Loyalty, p. 42, 1996
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.The Problem of Pain, p. 93, 1940
Joy is the serious business of Heaven.The Weight of Glory, p. 24, 1949
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.Mere Christianity, 1952
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.'Mere Christianity, p. 67, 1952
God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. C. S.Mere Christianity, HarperOne, 1980, pp. 49–50
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.Mere Christianity, 1952
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.The Screw-Tape Letters, #29, 1942
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.Live Your Dreams, p. 42, 1992
The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.The Screwtape Letters, p. 45, 1942
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.A Grief Observed, 1961
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.The Four Loves, p. 94, 1960
We read to know we are not alone.C.S. Lewis on Reading, Julian de Medeiros, 2025
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.Letter to Lucy Barfield, 1950
You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.
You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering.
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.Coffee or Tea for C.S. Lewis and Me, Mere Inkling Press, 2014
Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.Mere Christianity, Book 3, Chapter 7, 1952
That’s all 31 quotes by C.S. Lewis.