C.S. Lewis Quote from "God in the Dock" (Of All Tyrannies...)

Status
Not open for further replies.

B.L.

Puritan Board Sophomore
Morning,

I've seen the below C.S. Lewis quote circulating around lately and thought I'd drop it here in the Quotes Forum. I do not have the page number to go along with it, but its from his work God in the Dock.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)
 
I enjoy reading Lewis, even though I often disagree with him. As someone who reads quite a bit of theological and apologetic writing, it is refreshing to read such from someone who actually knows how to write the English language.
 
Morning,

I've seen the below C.S. Lewis quote circulating around lately and thought I'd drop it here in the Quotes Forum. I do not have the page number to go along with it, but its from his work God in the Dock.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)
What he says is true. How many tyrannies have started as doing "what's best for you" or "because it's right". Those kind of people scare me initially, provided they don't take over. Doing what's "right" sometimes can lead to worse sins in trying to stamp it out, even if they are right that it's evil.
Communism was successful in swaying groups of people in countries where conditions were so bad "anything's better than this" seemed like good idea.
 
What he says is true. How many tyrannies have started as doing "what's best for you" or "because it's right". Those kind of people scare me initially, provided they don't take over. Doing what's "right" sometimes can lead to worse sins in trying to stamp it out, even if they are right that it's evil.
Communism was successful in swaying groups of people in countries where conditions were so bad "anything's better than this" seemed like good idea.
What you wrote and what CS Lewis wrote made me think of this...“Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - One World, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.”

I’m not sure who CS Lewis had in mind when he wrote that specific portion. He may have been referring to men of a certain religious persuasion or merely a personality type.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top