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
One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting everyone else to give it up.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A flawed individual often desires others to abandon their own pursuits as they do.
This quote by C. S. Lewis highlights a characteristic of a 'bad man' as one who not only struggles to give up something themselves but also expects others to follow suit. It speaks to the selfishness and insecurity of individuals who wish to impose their limitations onto others, revealing how personal discontent can lead to a desire for collective sacrifice, rather than personal growth or acceptance.
Themes
SelfishnessExpectationsSacrificeIndividualityIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about personal growth, one might use this quote to illustrate the dangers of projecting one's insecurities onto others.
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
We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. We are monkeys with money and guns.
Tom WaitsRead
I have no doubt that for some to become a Christian may involve an experience of ecstasy. Yet I do not think such an experience is necessary for someone to be a Christian.
Stanley HauerwasRead
Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice--there is no other.
Ayn RandRead
I miss everyone. I can remember being young and feeling a thing and identifying it as homesickness, and then thinking well now thatβs odd, isnβt it, because I was home, all the time. What on earth are we to make of that?
David Foster WallaceRead
We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.
J. K. RowlingRead
An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of nothing but its own existence. It is incapable of learning from the past, incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable of drawing right conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be argued with. It inevitably dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead.
Carl JungRead