Quotes from C. S. Lewis

Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

Good and evil increase at compound interest. That's why the little decisions we make every day are of infinite importance.

Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, bit by bit, 'with backward mutters of dissevering power' - or else not.

The moment good taste knows itself, some of its goodness is lost.

And she never could remember; and ever since that day what Lucy means by a good story is a story which reminds her of the forgotten story in the Magician's Book.

Be good, sweet maid, and don't forget that this involves being as clever as you can.

Girls aren't very good at keeping maps in their brains", said Edmund, "That's because we've got something in them", replied Lucy.

One is sometimes glad not to be a great theologian; one might easily mistake it for being a good Christian.

We can never know that a piece of writing is bad unless we have begun by trying to read it as if it was very good and ended by discovering that we were paying the author an undeserved compliment.

Being nice doesn't make you stupid. It makes you feel good because you know you are gracious enough to forgive and smart enough to realize how distasteful some people can be.

Bad art is never really enjoyed in the same sense in which good art is enjoyed. It is only "liked": it never startles, prostrates, and takes captive.

'Good English' is whatever educated people talk so that what is good in one place or time would not be so in another.

It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

This moment contains all moments.

If you never take risks, you'll never accomplish great things. Everybody dies, but not everyone has lived.

Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains.

The sane would do no good if they made themselves mad to help madmen.

There is no other day. All days are present now. This moment contains all moments.

Either Jesus is the Son of God ; or a madman or worse. But His being just a great teacher? He's not left that open to us.

It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true Word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Him.

You are certainly under the guidance of the Holy Ghost or you wouldn't have come where you now are.

All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only beloved who will never pass away.

If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad.

Grief. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That's the deal.