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
Nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote implies that illogical or meaningless discussions do not gain significance, even when they pertain to divine matters.
C. S. Lewis suggests that engaging in nonsensical arguments or irrational discourse regarding God does not elevate the content or make it more valid. Instead, nonsense retains its nature regardless of the subject, highlighting the importance of reason and clarity in discussions about faith and divinity.
Themes
NonsenseFaithGodReasonDiscussion
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the existence of God, you can reference this quote to emphasize the need for rational arguments over nonsensical claims.
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
Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
George MasonRead
And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
Between the wish and the thing the world lies waiting.
Cormac MccarthyRead
Seems to me that the institutions that function in this country are clearly racist, and that they're built upon racism.
Stokely CarmichaelRead
...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
Every funeral may justly be considered as a summons to prepare for that state into which it shows us that we must some time enter; and the summons is more loud and piercing as the event of which it warns us is at less distance. To neglect at any time preparation for death is to sleep on our post at a siege; but to omit it in old age is to sleep at an attack.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead