The Lewis Legacy-Issue 83, Winter 2000 Notes and Quotes

“[Lewis’s] real power was not of proof; it was depiction.”

Austin Farrer, friend of C. S. Lewis

“First be absolutely sure that you have identified the truth (and the Scriptures are the place to go to check) and then hold fast to it and insist on it, gently and with kindness.”

Douglas Gresham, stepson of C. S. Lewis

“A peculiar academic prejudice against anyone who writes clearly and is widely read.”

Gilbert Meilaender, First Things

“Huxley died on 22nd November 1963, the day that President Kennedy was assassinated. Almost within twenty-four hours, Professor C. S. Lewis also was dead. He died in Headington, Oxford.

“Like Huxley, Lewis was a seeker after truth; he found its illuminations within the Christian belief. Like Huxley, he called forth affection and respect from all who met him, even those opposed to his views. Again, like Huxley, he was drawn to science fiction as a medium of expression. With the possible exception of Huxley, C. S. Lewis was the most respected champion of science fiction the modern genre has known.”

Brian Aldiss, Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (Gollancz, 1986)

“Lewis presented the devil’s angle rather brilliantly. When, from his own angle, he refashioned hell and purgatory, he did so in a genial British manner which would have nauseated Dante . . . He stayed in his Oxford rooms, tutoring away, scratching out his books in pen and ink.”

Anthony Burgess, “Jack of all traits,” The Observer, 20 Nov 1988

“There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them.”

Niels Henrik David Bohr (1885-1962), Danish chemist, physicist.