C.S Lewis was an Oxford and Cambridge scholar, a prolific writer, classicist, philosopher, and Christian. He wrote more than 20 books in his time the most popular of which is, The Chronicles Of Narnia and Mere Christianity. Apart from those two books, he also produced two excellent works on both pain in the general sense and grief in a personal sense. Most of the quotes you will find below are from those two works, A Grief Observed and The Problem Of Pain. Though most of the quotes come from those two books, there are a few that I have pulled from his other works — namely, The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia.
1. silence and pain
“I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.”
― C. S. Lewis
2. Grief and fear
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
3. Stopping Is Inevitable
“Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
4. The Painful Journey
“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”
― C.S. Lewis
5. Drama And Pain
“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
6. Emptiness
“I hope no one who reads this book has been quite as miserable as Susan and Lucy were that night; but if you have been – if you’ve been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you – you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness. You feel as if nothing is ever going to happen again.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
7. The Tragic Trade
“The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That’s the deal.”
― C.S. Lewis
8. Becoming Numb
“The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
9. Meditative Grief
“I once read the sentence ‘I lay awake all night with a toothache, thinking about the toothache an about lying awake.’ That’s true to life. Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery’s shadow or reflection: the fact that you don’t merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
10. The Love Of God
When pain is to be born, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Jack Lewis knew much pain, yet managed to be a joyful Christian. His life speaks as much about the authenticity of faith as his words.
I agree! He is someone who I look up to and wish I could have met. If only for a few minutes.
If you know Jesus, you will, Adam. 😉
These quotes sum up a vast canyon of emotion. So many people are trapped in the constant living in and reflecting of pain, misery, grief and suffering. Much of it is self-imposed, but much is world-imposed. In the end, there is only one solution. We must look not within, but without. Only through the sacrifice of perfection could man hope to be offered a rope to return to a place of hope and peace. Thank you for collecting these quotes. I will refer to them often.
Cs Lewis knew how to pinpoint the human experience like no one else. I am glad you liked the quotes!
I enjoy CS Lewis and like the quotes you chose.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you for these quotes. I have read some of Lewis’ works, but not all of these helpful readings.
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Superb quotes. Great indeed. Thanks a lot for sharing