A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
On the back of Satan's neck is a nail scarred footprint.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that even the forces of evil are marked by the suffering of good, symbolizing hope in the face of darkness.
In this profound quote, C. S. Lewis uses the imagery of a nail-scarred footprint on the back of Satan's neck to illustrate a powerful idea: that evil is forever haunted by the suffering inflicted through good and sacrifice. It evokes the Christian narrative of redemption, suggesting that even the darkest forces cannot escape the impact of sacrifice and love, represented here by the scars of Christ. This imagery can lead to reflection on the nature of good and evil, and how even in despair, hope and light persist.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a sermon to illustrate the victory of good over evil.
More from C. S. Lewis
All quotes βI enjoyed my breakfast this morning, and I think that was a good thing and do not think it was condemned by God. But I do not think myself a good man for enjoying it.
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
Similar quotes
Consequently, Christian meditation is entirely trinitarian and at the same time entirely human. In order to find God, no one need reject being human personally or socially, but in order to find God all must see the world and themselves in the Holy Spirit as they are in God's sight.
What grieves me most in my past offenses, O my loving God, is not so much the punishment I have deserved, as the displeasure I have given You, Who are worthy of infinite love.
We have an idea that we Americans are God's chosen people, that God loves us more than any other people, and that we are God's blessed. I tell you that God doesn't love us any more than He does the Russians.
The entire world was like a palace with countless rooms whose doors opened into one another. We were able to pass from one room to the next only by exercising our memories and imaginations, but most of us, in our laziness, rarely exercised these capacities, and forever remained in the same room.
That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.
Am I a weed, carried this way, that way, on a tide that comes twice a day without a meaning?