Did C.S. Lewis say that?
Remembering the internet's most famous misquoted theologian
Happy Clive Staples Lewis day!
In honor of the great 20th century author and theologian, a little quiz.
Which one of these quotes is actually from Lewis?
“You’re never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.”
“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.”
“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
“In hell they talk a lot about love. In heaven they just do it.”
“The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it.”
“To love at all is to be vulnerable.”
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”
“Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...”
“Life with God is not immunity from troubles, but peace in difficulties.”
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
Don’t bother Googling, it won’t help.
It turns out Lewis is one of the most frequently misquoted people on the internet. I always suspected this, but I did a little research this week that confirmed my suspicions.
Turns out that there’s a whole ‘misattributed’ section on the official C.S. Lewis website.
Through that, I discovered a whole book called ‘The Misquotable CS Lewis: What He Didn’t Say, What He Actually Said, and Why it Matters’, by William O’Flaherty - who is the reigning expert on the subject.
And - in the world of holy coincidence, I was already researching this blog post when I discovered that this week, Christianity Today published an article by Aaron Earls: “Mere Misattribution: Why We Misquote C.S. Lewis”.
Why does Lewis get misquoted so much?
Earls quotes O’Flaherty in the Christian Century article : “Frankly speaking, too many people have a bumper sticker attention span… And typically, they love quotes because quotes give them the ‘sound bite’ that confirms something they already believe.”
Yet I’ve noticed that it’s not always the internet that’s misquoting Lewis.
I was in the doctor’s office not long ago and a cheery message was on the white board in the examining room: “You’re never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream”. - C.S. Lewis
As soon as the doctor came in, I said, “That’s not a C.S. Lewis quote!”
She was taken aback. I don’t think she had even seen the quote. I’m sure she thought I was the weirdest patient ever. But it drove me crazy (hope you didn’t guess #1!).
It’s definitely a strange phenomenon.
Why does it matter?
Well, to me it matters because so much of what Lewis did say was so beautiful and important. He was a great Christian apologist - someone who explains the depths of Christianity in terms that we can understand.
C.S. Lewis was one of the greatest Christian apologists of all time. He wrote some of the most important books of the twentieth century, among them ‘Mere Christianity’, ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, and my personal favorite, ‘The Great Divorce’.
The misquotes that hurt the most are the ones that really have nothing to do with Christianity, or the ones that are far from Christian theology.
Like: “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” (Sorry if you guessed #3!)
So which ones did C.S. Lewis did say?
# 2: “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.” (a theological paper given to the Oxford Socratic Club)
#7: “The universe rings true wherever you fairly test it.” (Surprised by Joy)
#8: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.” (The Four Loves)
#10 “Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...” (Mere Christianity)
The only one I’m still struggling with is #12: “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
The internet thinks Lewis said this - but no one actually cites where it comes from. The book, the website, and the article about definitive Lewis quotes don’t mention it.
So, who knows? It’s not theological, so I’ll live with the mystery.
The reason it’s important to me to get C.S. Lewis quotes right - and to remember him - is his unique voice.
One that blends authority with awe, intellect with grace. Lewis has shaped my life and my beliefs for the better part of my life.
It’s important to get his words right because his words are so important.
I’ll leave you with my two favorite Lewis quotes:
“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.” (the Great Divorce)
“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
I am an avid fan of C.S. Lewis but even I guessed one wrong 😑 (#3). I credit Lewis for bringing me “back to God” when I was searching in my 20s. His logic, for me, is undeniable. I love the passage in Mere Christianity where he talks about how we love a dog - and I’m 100% paraphrasing. We bathe the dog, we groom it, we feed it carefully chosen food, we give it a soft bed to lay on. Did the dog want this? Did the dog ask for this? No. The bathing and the grooming and the waiting to eat are actually not pleasant for the dog. The dog would never choose this on its own. But that’s what love does - changes us in ways that we never would have chosen, cleans us up so that we can receive more love. Makes us more lovable. Genius.
Thank you. It's annoying to see soppy/sloppy thoughts attributed to him. A shorthand for people to try to lend credibility to something.