When I was younger, my parents introduced me and my siblings to the world of Narnia. We ventured through the wardrobe and into a world full of kind-hearted Lions, long sea voyages, and epic battles. The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis is still to this day one of my favorite book series. It’s both enjoyable in its plot as well as in its lessons. C.S. Lewis is someone who I have learned since then was incredibly wise as well as inspirational. His words sometimes express what I’m feeling when I can’t - the gift of a true writer. Recently I stumbled upon a book called The Quotable Lewis while browsing the book section of the thrift store (somewhere you should frequent on a regular basis, if you aren’t already - two words: hidden gems) that compiles much of his great wisdom all in one place. It’s pretty magnificent - dividing his thoughts on different subjects by category. I decided that his wisdom was worth sharing, and compiled twenty of my favorite quotes below.
1. “He led them to the right of the dancing trees - whether they were still dancing or not nobody knew, for Lucy had her eyes on the lion and the rest had their eyes on Lucy.”
2. “As for wrinkles - pshaw! Why shouldn’t we have wrinkles? Honorable insignia of long service in this warfare.”
3. “Anger is the fluid that love bleeds when you cut it.”
4. “Creatures, I give you yourselves,” said the strong, happy voice of Aslan. “I give you forever this land of Narnia. I give you the woods, the fruits, the rivers. I give you the stars and I give you myself."
5. “You never know how much you really believe in anything until it's truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?...Only a real risk tests the reality of belief.”
6. “There is something awfully nice about reading a book again, with all the half-unconscious memories it brings back...You really lose a lot by never reading books again.”
7. “Those who are enjoying something, or suffering something, together, are companions. Those who enjoy or suffer one another are not.”
8. “The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.”
9. “Even posthumous fame depends largely on accident.”
10. “Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, 'sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.' I know I am very fortunate in that respect.”
11. “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.”
12. “An old Saint, being asked whether it is easy or hard to love God, replied: “It is easy to those who do it.”
13. “Why is it that one can never think of the past without wanting to go back?”
14. “I am a barbarously early riser...I love the empty, silent, dewy, cobwebby hours.”
15. “It is quite useless knocking at the door of heaven for earthly comfort; it’s not the sort of comfort they supply there.”
16. “You can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only buy putting first things first.”
17. “Sleep is a jade who scorns her suitors but woos her scorners.”
18. “God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.”
19. “Isn’t it funny the way some combinations of words can give you - almost apart from their meaning - a thrill like music?”
20. “Whenever you are fed up with life, start writing: ink is the great cure for all human ills, as I have found long ago.”