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
But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that is going to be Human and isn’t yet, or used to be Human once and isn’t now, or ought to be Human and isn’t, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Be vigilant and prepared when encountering beings or situations that lack humanity.
C. S. Lewis emphasizes the importance of being aware of the presence of humanity or the absence thereof in others and in situations. His use of 'hatchet' suggests that one should be ready to confront or address the dehumanization they witness, implying a moral responsibility to protect and uphold humanity wherever it is threatened or diminished.
Themes
HumanityVigilanceDehumanizationMoralityPreparedness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about ethical leadership in challenging times.
More from C. S. Lewis
All quotes →I 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
A sick body with a good heart is more beneficial to future lives than a fit, healthy body that is used for self-cherishing.
Thubten Zopa RinpocheRead
The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.
Muriel RukeyserRead
The boy was lying, fast asleep, on a rude bed upon the floor; so pale with anxiety, and sadness, and the closeness of his prison, that he looked like death; not death as it shews in shroud and coffin, but in the guise it wears when life has just departed; when a young and gentle spirit has, but an instant, fled to Heaven: and the gross air of the world has not had time to breathe upon the changing dust it hallowed.
Charles DickensRead
People now live their lives like an open wound to be famous - they do bad things because they're rewarded for it.
Ricky GervaisRead
Remembering bred its own peculiar sorrow. It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and happiness into a source of pain.
Rohinton MistryRead
A physician is obligated to consider more than a diseased organ, more even than the whole man - he must view the man in his world.
Harvey CushingRead