Good beats upon the damned incessantly as sound waves beat on the ears of the deaf, but they cannot receive it. Their fists are clenched, their teeth are clenched, their eyes fast shut. First they will not, in the end they cannot, open their hands for gifts, or their mouth for food, or their eyes to see.

My friendship you shall have, leanred Man," piped Reepicheep. "And any Dwarf--or Giant---in the army who does not give you good language shall have my sword to reckon with.

Ideally, we should like to define a good book as one which 'permits, invites, or compels' good reading

Grief ... gives life a permanently provisional feeling. It doesn't seem worth starting anything. I can't settle down. I yawn, I fidget, I smoke too much. Up till this I always had too little time. Now there is nothing but time. Almost pure time, empty successiveness.

You can’t get second things by putting them first. You get second things only by putting first things first.

If you love deeply, you're going to get hurt badly. But it's still worth it.

The real job of every moral teacher is to keep bringing us back to the simple principles, which we're so anxious not to see.