C. S. Lewis Quotes About Hell

• A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

  C. S. Lewis

  Teacher, Jesus, Son

• It's not a question of God 'sending' us to Hell. In each of us there is something growing up which will of itself be Hell unless it is nipped in the bud.

  C. S. Lewis

  Growing Up, Grumbling, Bud

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.170, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

  C. S. Lewis

  Thought Provoking, Religion, Literature

  The Screwtape Letters ch. 12 (1941)

• We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.

  C. S. Lewis

  Passion, Self, Envy

  C. S. Lewis (2013). “The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition”, p.7, Harper Collins

• There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.

  C. S. Lewis

  Self, Two, People

  "The Problem of Pain". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1940.

• A cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to Hell than a prostitute.

  C. S. Lewis

  Self, Church, May

  C. S. Lewis (2012). “The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics”, p.93, HarperCollins UK

• The descent to hell is easy and those who begin by worshipping power, soon worship evil.

  C. S. Lewis

  Evil, Political, Worship

  C. S. Lewis (2013). “The Allegory of Love”, p.234, Cambridge University Press

• The doors of hell are locked from the inside!

  C. S. Lewis

  Doors, Hell, Locked

• Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others.

  C. S. Lewis

  Grumbling, Complaining, Blame

• All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.

  C. S. Lewis

  Self, Choices, Hell

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.169, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven.

  C. S. Lewis

  Inspirational, Religious, Self

  C. S. Lewis (1984). “The Business of Heaven: Daily Readings from C. S. Lewis”, p.141, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• If we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.

  C. S. Lewis

  Heaven, Able, Hell

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.178, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• To enter heaven is to become more human than you ever succeeded in being on earth; to enter hell is to be banished from humanity. What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is 'remains.'

  C. S. Lewis

  Men, Heaven, Humanity

• A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.

  C. S. Lewis

  Teacher, Jesus, Fall

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

• The choice of every lost soul can be expressed in the words "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." There is always something they insist on keeping, even at the price of misery.

  C. S. Lewis

  Heaven, Choices, Soul

  "The Great Divorce". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1945.

• I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.

  C. S. Lewis

  Believe, Successful, Doors

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.183, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: What are you asking God to do? To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.

  C. S. Lewis

  Running, Past, Offering

  "The Problem of Pain". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1940.

• The action of Pity leaps quicker than light from the highest place to the lowest to bring healing and joy, whatever the cost to itself. It changes darkness into light and evil into good. But it will not, at the cunning tears of Hell, impose on good the tyranny of evil. Every disease that submits to a cure shall be cured: but we will not call blue yellow to please those who insist on having jaundice, nor make a midden of the world's garden for the sake of some who cannot abide the smell of roses.

  C. S. Lewis

  Inspirational, Religious, Healing

• A man can't be taken to hell, or sent to hell: you can only get there on your own steam.

  C. S. Lewis

  Taken, Men, Hell

  C. S. Lewis (2002). “The Dark Tower and Other Stories”, p.49, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• It takes all sorts to make a world; or a church. This may be even truer of a church. If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which God intended when He made them, and Heaven will display far more variety than Hell.

  C. S. Lewis

  Diversity, Heaven, Grace

  C. S. Lewis (2002). “Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer”, p.14, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

• To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will most certainly be wrung and possibly broken ... The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

  C. S. Lewis

  Heart, Love Is, Broken

• There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than the doctrine of hell, if it lay in my power. But it has the support of Scripture and, especially, of our Lord's own words; it has always been held by the Christian Church, and it has the support of reason.

  C. S. Lewis

  Christian, Support, Church

• In the ancient world individuals have sold themselves as slaves, in order to eat. So in society. Here is a witch-doctor who can save us from the sorcerers - a war-lord who can save us from the barbarians - a Church that can save us from Hell. Give them what they ask, give ourselves to them bound and blindfold, if only they will! Perhaps the terrible bargain will be made again. We cannot blame men for making it. We can hardly wish them not to. Yet we can hardly bear that they should.

  C. S. Lewis

  War, Men, Doctors

• All Hell is smaller than one pebble of your earthly world; but it is smaller than one atom of this world, the Real World.

  C. S. Lewis

  Inspirational, Religious, Real

• The whole difficulty of understanding Hell is that the thing to be understood is so nearly nothing.

  C. S. Lewis

  Inspirational, Religious, Understanding

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.171, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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