---
title: "1 Longing Things Quotes By C.S. Lewis"
description: "1 Longing Things quotes by C.S. Lewis. Plus more from C.S. Lewis and more Longing Things sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/c-s-lewis-121_beauty_in-speaking-of-this-desire-for-our-own-f_192777.jpg"
---

> [“In speaking of this desire for our own far off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/in-speaking-of-this-desire-for-our-own-far-off-country-which-we-find/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5f9/c-s-lewis-121_beauty_in-speaking-of-this-desire-for-our-own-f_192777.jpg)

## More by C.S. Lewis

> [“At the moment, then, of Man’s victory over Nature, we find the whole human race subjected to some individual men, and those individuals subjected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/at-the-moment-then-of-man-s-victory-over-nature-we-find-the-whole/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“Isn’t it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and a fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified of the other?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/isn-t-it-absolutely-essential-to-keep-a-fierce-left-and-a-fierce/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“All Hell is smaller than one pebble of your earthly world: but it is smaller than one atom of this world, the Real World.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/all-hell-is-smaller-than-one-pebble-of-your-earthly-world-but-it-is/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“the greatest service we can do to education today is to teach fewer subjects. No one has time to do more than a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/the-greatest-service-we-can-do-to-education-today-is-to-teach-fewer/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“If the Divine call does not make us better, it will make us very much worse. Of all bad men religious bad men are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/if-the-divine-call-does-not-make-us-better-it-will-make-us-very-much/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“The husband is the head of the wife just in so far as he is to her what Christ is to the Church -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/the-husband-is-the-head-of-the-wife-just-in-so-far-as-he-is-to-her/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he "wants a woman". Strictly speaking, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/we-use-a-most-unfortunate-idiom-when-we-say-of-a-lustful-man-prowling/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“Después de cada fracaso, pedid perdón, levantaos del suelo y volved a intentarlo. Muy a menudo, lo que Dios nos otorga primero no es…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/despu-s-de-cada-fracaso-pedid-perd-n-levantaos-del-suelo-y-volved-a/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was that the voice was suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/then-two-wonders-happened-at-the-same-moment-one-was-that-the-voice/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/because-free-will-though-it-makes-evil-possible-is-also-the-only/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“Laugh and fear not, creatures. Now that you are no longer dumb and witless, you need not always be grave. For jokes as well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/laugh-and-fear-not-creatures-now-that-you-are-no-longer-dumb-and/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“When two humans have lived together for many years it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/when-two-humans-have-lived-together-for-many-years-it-usually-happens/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/he-sees-as-well-as-you-do-that-courage-is-not-simply-one-of-the/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“If you do not take the distinction between good and bad very seriously, then it is easy to say that anything you find in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/if-you-do-not-take-the-distinction-between-good-and-bad-very/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

> [“Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/now-the-whole-offer-which-christianity-makes-is-this-that-we-can-if/)

[C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/)

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                        "text": "“In speaking of this desire for our own far off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name. Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”",
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