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
There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails. It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Moral Law is strict and unwavering, demanding integrity regardless of the challenges it presents.
C. S. Lewis emphasizes that the Moral Law is not a lenient guideline, but rather a rigid principle that commands individuals to act rightly. It acknowledges the potential hardships involved in doing what is morally correct, highlighting the unwavering nature of ethical conduct that prioritizes doing good over personal comfort or safety.
Themes
MoralLawIntegrityDutyEthics
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on ethics, this quote could reinforce the importance of adhering to moral principles.
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
Your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view to emancipating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit would diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country; but I despair of seeing it.
George WashingtonRead
We are what we are, because of the vibrations of thought which we pick up and register, through the stimuli of our daily environment.
Napoleon HillRead
I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state.
Roger EbertRead
I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. By my office - and by personal conviction - I am sworn to uphold that tradition.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
Violence comes from the belief that other people cause our pain and therefore deserve punishment.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
Where two principles really do meet which cannot be reconciled with one another, then each man declares the other a fool and a heretic
Ludwig WittgensteinRead