Mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people

In coming to understand anything we are rejecting the facts as they are for us in favour of the facts as they are.

We treat our dogs as if they were "almost human": that is why they really become "almost human" in the end.

We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.

Are the gods not just?' 'Oh no, child. What would become us us if they were?

I never fully understood it till my friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, 'What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and hostile to, the idea of escape?' and gave the obvious answer: jailers.

The best swordsman in the world may be disarmed by a trick that's new to him.