C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Clive Staples “C. S.” Lewis (1898–1963) was a British writer, scholar, and Christian apologist. Explore his life, works (including The Chronicles of Narnia), his conversion, theology, and memorable quotes that continue to inspire readers worldwide.

Introduction

C. S. Lewis is among the most beloved and widely read authors of the 20th century. Best known for his fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, he was also a distinguished literary scholar and a compelling Christian apologist. His works bridge imaginative fiction and serious reflection on faith, morality, suffering, and human longing. His influence extends beyond literature into philosophy, theology, and popular culture.

Early Life and Family

Clive Staples Lewis was born on 29 November 1898 in Belfast, Ireland (now Northern Ireland). His father, Albert James Lewis, was a solicitor; his mother, Florence Augusta Hamilton Lewis (Flora), was educated and came from a clerical background. Lewis had one older brother, Warren Lewis (“Warnie”).

When he was nine, his mother died (in 1908). The young Lewis, deeply attached to books, grew up amid the family’s large personal library, and reading became a central part of his inner life.

From early years, he adopted the nickname “Jack” (or “Jacksie” as a child) and would be known by that among friends and family.

Youth, Education & Early Influences

Lewis was initially educated at home, and later attended Malvern College in Worcestershire, England, as a teenager. He then secured a scholarship to University College, Oxford around 1916.

His university studies were interrupted by World War I, during which Lewis served in the British Army. He was wounded in the war, and afterward resumed academic life at Oxford.

After the war, Lewis’s academic promise was evident: he earned a “triple first” (top marks in multiple subjects) and was eventually elected a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1925. He remained at Oxford for many years, teaching and writing.

Lewis’s early intellectual influences included mythology, classical literature, medieval and later Christian writers, and a lifelong friendship and literary exchange with J. R. R. Tolkien and others in the Oxford “Inklings.”

Career and Major Works

Scholar & Critic

Lewis’s scholarly work often focused on medieval and Renaissance literature, allegory, and literary criticism.
One important work is The Allegory of Love (1936), in which Lewis explores the medieval tradition of allegorical love across literature. He also produced various essays, literary criticism, and lectures, many of which were collected in volumes such as They Asked for a Paper (1962).

In 1954, he accepted the newly founded Chair in Medieval & Renaissance Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he continued teaching until shortly before his death.

Fiction & Apologetics

Lewis is perhaps best known to general audiences for his fiction, particularly The Chronicles of Narnia series (1950–1956). He also wrote The Screwtape Letters, The Space Trilogy (also called the “Cosmic Trilogy”), Till We Have Faces, Mere Christianity, Miracles, The Problem of Pain, and many essays and works of Christian apologetics.

His apologetic works aimed to defend Christian belief to skeptics and thoughtful readers. Mere Christianity is one of his most famous and enduring apologetic books.

Lewis also broadcast radio talks on Christianity during World War II, which contributed to his popularity and influence in Britain.

On a personal front, in 1956 Lewis married Joy Davidman (an American writer). She died a few years later (1960), a loss that deeply affected him and found reflection in A Grief Observed, a work he published (initially under a pseudonym) about grief and faith.

Historical & Cultural Context

Lewis lived through momentous shifts: the World Wars, the decline of British Empire, intensified secularism, and changes in religious and philosophical thought in the 20th century.
He navigated a cultural moment in which traditional Christian faith was being challenged by scientific materialism, existentialism, and modern skepticism. His work is often seen as a defense of Christian hope in a more secular age.

His friendship with Tolkien and membership in the Inklings placed him in a milieu of literary and philosophical exchange. Their dialogues about myth, imagination, and faith influenced both men’s creative and theological directions.

Legacy and Influence

C. S. Lewis’s legacy is broad and enduring:

• His imaginative works (especially Narnia) continue to be translated, adapted (films, stage, TV), and read by new generations.

• His apologetic and theological writings still serve as entry points to Christian thinking for many readers.

• Scholars in literature, theology, and cultural studies frequently engage his work on myth, symbolism, allegory, and the interplay between faith and imagination.

• He is often cited among the greatest British writers of the 20th century.

• In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of his death, Lewis was honored with a memorial in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Personality, Themes & Vision

While Lewis was a complex individual, some key traits and recurrent themes emerge:

• Imaginative faith: He believed that imagination and myth hold truth, not mere escapism.

• Longing & “Joy”: A central concept in his thought is joy (in a special sense), a longing for something beyond the material world, what he sometimes called “sehnsucht.”

• Morality & universals: Lewis argued for a “Law of Nature” or moral objective standard that transcends cultures.

• Suffering & redemption: He wrestled with pain, loss, and the paradoxes of suffering in a fallen world, not by glossing over them but by engaging them honestly.

• Clear prose & wit: His writing often balances lucidity, reason, humor, and poetic insight.

• Bridge-builder: He sought to make faith intellectually credible to skeptics and literary sensibilities, rather than retreating to unexamined dogma.

Famous Quotes of C. S. Lewis

Here are several well-known quotes (in translation) that reflect his thought, style, and spirit:

1. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

2. “Failures, repeated failures, are finger-posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.”

3. “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried to be good.”

4. “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”

5. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”

6. “We are mirrors whose brightness is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us.”

7. “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

8. “We are what we believe we are.”

9. “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.”

10. “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

Each of these captures a facet of Lewis’s blend of imagination, moral seriousness, and spiritual reflection.

Lessons from C. S. Lewis

• Let imagination speak: Myth and story can open doors to truth that dry argument cannot always reach.

• Hold reason and wonder together: Lewis shows that faith need not reject reason, but engage it.

• Embrace longing: Our deepest longings often point beyond what this world can offer.

• Face suffering earnestly: Lewis does not shy from pain; he sees it as part of a reality we must reckon with.

• Be humble in pursuit: Humility is not self-denial but proper orientation toward self and others.

• Never stop growing: His own life exemplified continual learning, conversion, and creativity.

Conclusion

C. S. Lewis bridged worlds: the academic and the imaginative, the skeptic and the believer, the fairy tale and theology. His writings have comforted, challenged, and inspired millions. He invites readers to see deeper, believe more daringly, and live between the seen and the unseen with courage, wonder, and integrity.