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.
C. S. LewisRead
The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that a good personβs past can be transformed by forgiveness and the acceptance of their sorrows, leading to a state of peace and happiness.
C. S. Lewis emphasizes the transformative power of forgiveness and how it can reshape oneβs perception of the past. For a good man, the burdens of guilt and sorrow are alleviated through forgiveness, leading to a more heavenly or serene existence, showing that the emotional weight of memories can be lightened through a positive perspective.
Themes
ForgivenessSorrowTransformationHeavenPast
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about overcoming personal struggles, this quote can illustrate the power of forgiveness.
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.
C. S. LewisRead
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. LewisRead
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
C. S. LewisRead
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
C. S. LewisRead
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
C. S. LewisRead
Similar quotes
I pray-for fashion's word is out And prayer comes round again- That I may seem, though I die old, A foolish, passionate man.
William Butler YeatsRead
The whole world is not worth one soul.
Saint Francis De SalesRead
If the enemy is to be coerced, you must put him in a situation that is even more unpleasant than the sacrifice you call on him to make. The hardships of the situation must not be merely transient - at least not in appearance. Otherwise, the enemy would not give in, but would wait for things to improve.
Carl Von ClausewitzRead
Symbolic violence is violence wielded with tacit complicity between its victims and its agents, insofar as both remain unconscious of submitting to or wielding it.
Pierre BourdieuRead
Religion is like a map. The route isn't important. It's the destination that matters.
Marianne WilliamsonRead
Pragmatism asks its usual question. "Grant an idea or belief to be true," it says, "what concrete difference will its being true make in anyone's actual life? How will the truth be realized? What experiences will be different from those which would obtain if the belief were false? What, in short, is the truth's cash-value in experiential terms?
William JamesRead