Words are catch-basins of experience, fingerprints and footprints of the past that the literary detective may scrutinize in order to sleuth out the history of human consciousness.

Lewis had developed a trademark style, slow enough for note taking, loud enough to rouse the dullest listener, straightforward, abundantly furnished with quotations, and lavish in wit.

A letter Lewis wrote reveals an 18-year-old with the energy of a schoolboy and the tastes of an octogenarian.

In the infancy of society every author is necessarily a poet, because language itself is poetry. – Owen Barfield

Imagination pointed toward truth but could not disclose it directly.

We must picture Oxford, during World War I, not as the neomedieval paradise it would like to be, but as the military compound it was obliged to become.

The arts are the best Time Machine we have." C. S. Lewis

Now he must put into practice all his fine poetic thoughts about romantic love.

Passion does not translate easily into good income.

As is the case with many adolescents, Lewis's increased command over over the things of the world brought with it a corresponding atrophy of the moral sense.

The unavoidable harshness of life surprised none of them, for they were Christians one and all, believing that they inhabited a fallen world, albeit one filled with God's grace.

Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

Oh, I forgot to mention it: My brother is the kind of man whom women stalk. In cooperative packs.

Necessity, especially in politics, often occasions false hopes, false reasonings, and a system of measures, correspondingly erroneous.

Our response to temptation is an accurate barometer of our love for God.

If God came down here with the box that had the reason for living in it, I'd like to find just 2 words: The Music. That would be neat.

I only work at night, generally. Usually when I work [during the day] I'll black out the windows or something.

We must be reduced again and again to the limit of all resolution and resources and be compelled to feel the need of Another's help and sufficiency.

You can't prevent World War III. You don't have any juice. In fact, World War III will free you. ... Your time has come.

I think most people are not willing to make the tough choices.

What we get from each moment depends on the attention we give it, and the quality of our experience reflects the quality of our awareness.