The process of living seems to consist in coming to realize truths so ancient and simple that, if stated, they sound like barren platitudes.

C. S. Lewis

Categorized in : Sound Simple Realizing

When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less.

godly faith men

Do not dare not to dare. by C. S. Lewis

Do not dare not to dare.

dare life religion

You must ask for God's help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again.

always-trying mind long

The New Testament writers speak as if Christ's achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the 'first fruits,' the pioneer of life,' He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so.

life-changing kings men

The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

thought-provoking literature religion

Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth.

continuity growth synthesis

It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates Hi... by C. S. Lewis

It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men.

process worship men

Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first & we lose both first and second things.

put-first-things-first thrown firsts

When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.

character men lying

Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless ag... by C. S. Lewis

Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism.

aids emotion animal

Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means undergoing a kind of death. In fact, it needs a good man to repent. And here's the catch. Only a bad person needs to repent: only a good person can repent perfectly. The worse you are the more you need it and the less you can do it. The only person who could do it perfectly would be a perfect person - and he would not need it.

humble fun mean

I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only... by C. S. Lewis

I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.

reading men book

Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - above all, that we are better than someone else - I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil.

devil religious thinking

I seemed to hear God saying, "Put down your gun and we'll talk. by C. S. Lewis

I seemed to hear God saying, "Put down your gun and we'll talk.

gun

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

teacher son jesus

You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it,... by C. S. Lewis

You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down.

trying wind lying

When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy.

want-u want facts

There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one.

truth views answers

It is wonderful what you can do when you have to. by C. S. Lewis

It is wonderful what you can do when you have to.

can-do wonderful

The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs.

impulse dangerous cost