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
If the world is meaningless, then so are we; if we mean something, we do not mean alone.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote implies that individual significance is derived from our connections with others, suggesting that meaning is relational.
C.S. Lewis articulates a profound philosophical perspective on meaning and existence. He suggests that if the world lacks inherent meaning, then our lives are also devoid of significance. However, he counters this notion by stating that if we are to hold any meaning, it must be understood that it is shared in connection with others. This emphasizes the importance of relationships and community in giving our lives purpose and significance.
Themes
MeaningRelationshipsExistenceSignificanceCommunity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a motivational speech about the importance of teamwork.
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
The religious superstitions of women perpetuate their bondage more than all other adverse influences.
Elizabeth Cady StantonRead
Be what you would seem to be - or, if you'd like it put more simply - never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.
Lewis CarrollRead
As a rule, said Holmes, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
What may appear as truth to one person will often appear as untruth to another person. But that need not worry the seeker. When there is honest effort, it will be realised that what appears to be different truths are like apparently different countless leaves of the same tree.
Mahatma GandhiRead
It is one of the consolations of philosophy that the benefit of showing how to dispense with a concept does not hinge on dispensing with it.
Willard Van Orman QuineRead
What's unique about the Mormon Church is that it encourages inquiry. I really do think my research and religion are all on the same page. I never could have come up with the notion of disruptive innovations, which went against a lot of conventional wisdom, if I hadn't been raised to always be asking questions.
Clayton M. ChristensenRead