January 8, 2012

the wisdom of C. S. Lewis

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.  ~ C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

(stolen from The Writer's Hole, hosted by the lovely and talented Christine Hardy.)

5 comments:

Margo Berendsen said...

How wonderful! a new quote by Lewis I haven't heard before - and such a pertinent one, too. I think he's so right. If you twist yourself upside down trying to be original, you'll lose authenticity. Better to be authentic and let the originality come naturally.

Rachel Schieffelbein said...

Great quote. I love C.S. Lewis. One of my favorite quotes from him is, "whwn I became a man I gave up childish things- such as the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I can do that!!!

Sarah McCabe said...

Best writing quote ever.

Melissa Ann Goodwin said...

How come I've never heard of Neil Gaiman, but today I've seen two of his quotes that I love???

And C.S. Lewis - yes, that's wonderful!