Quotes from C.S. Lewis

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world

Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is

Though our feelings come and go, Godís love for us does not.

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

You cannot go on 'explaining away' for ever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.

Consciousness is either inexplicable illusion, or else revelation

If we did not bring to the examinations of our instincts a knowledge of their comparative dignity we could never learn it from them

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.

This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.

God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.

By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient's reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result

But probably every age gets, within certain limits, the science it deserves

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.

Which of the religions of the world gives to its followers the greatest happiness? While it lasts, the religion of worshiping oneself is best

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.î

True friends... face in the same direction, toward common projects, interests, goals.

Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.

Progress means movement in a desired direction, and we do not all desire the same things for our species.

Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.

The son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.

Things never happen the same way twice.