C.S. Lewis is one of the most beloved and best known authors of recent generations. His novels, journals and theological works have inspired readers for decades. Below is a compilation of 25 of Lewis's most prolific and poignant quotes and excerpts.

1. "Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours."

2. "When the whole world is running toward a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind."

3. "God always allows us to feel the frailty of human love so we’ll appreciate the strength of His."

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5. "Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."

6. "Evil comes from the abuse of free will…Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having."

7.

8. "You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body."

9. "A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word “darkness” on the walls of his cell."

10.

11. "The love of knowledge is a kind of madness."

12. "God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing."

13. "Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives."

14. "Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done."

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16. "Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably."

17. "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."

18.

19. "Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage."

20. "In Science we have been reading only the notes to a poem; in Christianity we find the poem itself."

21.

22. "We meet no ordinary people in our lives."

23. "What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it."

24. "I want God, not my idea of God."

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