--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Some have paid me an undeserved…" description: "\"Some have paid me an undeserved compliment by supposing that my Letters were the ripe fruit of many years' study in moral and ascetic theology. They fo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/c-s-lewis-2-132_asceticism_some-have-paid-me-an-undeserved-complime_3132724.png" --- # Some have paid me an undeserved compliment by supposing… ![“Some have paid me an undeserved compliment by supposing that my Letters were the ripe fruit of many years' study in moral and ascetic theology. They forgot that there is an equally reliable, though less creditable, way of learning how temptation works.” quote by C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/c-s-lewis-2-132_asceticism_some-have-paid-me-an-undeserved-complime_3132724.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/c-s-lewis-2-132_asceticism_some-have-paid-me-an-undeserved-complime_3132724.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/18a/c-s-lewis-2-132_asceticism_some-have-paid-me-an-undeserved-complime_3132724.png) > “Some have paid me an undeserved compliment by supposing that my Letters were the ripe fruit of many years' study in moral and ascetic theology. They forgot that there is an equally reliable, though less creditable, way of learning how temptation works.” [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Compliments can be misleading; true understanding comes from confronting temptation directly, not just scholarly study. **In simple terms:** Learning from temptation is more honest than praise. Key Takeaway Seek experience over empty accolades. Themes humility learning temptation truth Mood introspective serious Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - spiritual formation - academic study - personal integrity - moral decision‑making Key Concepts ethical growth self‑knowledge critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance praise with self‑critique? - What experiences teach you more than theory? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on praise may hinder self‑awareness. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asceticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asceticism/) [Compliment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compliment/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Fruit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fruit/) [Learning Temptation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning-temptation-5548017/) [Letters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/letters/) [Letters Ripe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/letters-ripe-5548018/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Paid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paid/) [Ripe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ripe/) [Ripe fruit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ripe-fruit/) [Study](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/study/) [Supposing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supposing/) [Supposing that](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supposing-that/) [Temptation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/temptation/) [Theology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theology/) [Theology Forgot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theology-forgot-5548016/) [Undeserved Compliment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/undeserved-compliment-3451756/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [We can never know that a piece of writing is bad unless we have begun by trying to read it as if it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/we-can-never-know-that-a-piece-of-writing-is-bad-unless-we-have-begun/) [C. 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If we have been born again into God's family, not only has he become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stott/the-christian-life-is-not-just-our-own-private-affair-if-we-have-been/) [John Stott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stott/) > [The chief difficulty of modern theoretical physics resides not in the fact that it expresses itself almost exclusively in mathematical symbols, but in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/celia-green/the-chief-difficulty-of-modern-theoretical-physics-resides-not-in-the/) [Celia Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/celia-green/) > [The scientific method of examining facts is not peculiar to one class of phenomena and to one class of workers; it is applicable to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-pearson/the-scientific-method-of-examining-facts-is-not-peculiar-to-one-class/) [Karl Pearson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-pearson/) > [One of the problems of taking things apart and seeing how they work - supposing you're trying to find out how a cat works--you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/one-of-the-problems-of-taking-things-apart-and-seeing-how-they-work/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [Failure is not the falling down but the staying down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pickford/failure-is-not-the-falling-down-but-the-staying-down/) [Mary Pickford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pickford/) > [If I am right in supposing it to be comparatively easy to make capital-goods so abundant that the marginal efficiency of capital is zero,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/if-i-am-right-in-supposing-it-to-be-comparatively-easy-to-make/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [Honesty is always the best policy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/honesty-is-always-the-best-policy/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [the usual attitude of Christians towards Jews is - I hardly know whether to say more impious or more stupid, when viewed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/the-usual-attitude-of-christians-towards-jews-is-i-hardly-know/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) ## More by C. S. Lewis > [One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-our-great-allies-at-present-is-the-church-itself-do-not/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Either Jesus is the Son of God ; or a madman or worse. But His being just a great teacher? He's not left that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/either-jesus-is-the-son-of-god-or-a-madman-or-worse-but-his-being/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [To every soul, God will look like its first love because He IS its first love. Your place in heaven will seem to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/to-every-soul-god-will-look-like-its-first-love-because-he-is-its/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Don't you understand anything? Isn't it absolutely essential to keep a fierce Left and a fierce Right, both on their toes and each terrified…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/don-t-you-understand-anything-isn-t-it-absolutely-essential-to-keep-a/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“Really great moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is quacks and cranks who do that. As”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/really-great-moral-teachers-never-do-introduce-new-moralities-it-is/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [“When He died in the Wounded World He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/when-he-died-in-the-wounded-world-he-died-not-for-men-but-for-each/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [All I am in private life is a literary critic and historian, that's my job...And I'm prepared to say on that basis if anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/all-i-am-in-private-life-is-a-literary-critic-and-historian-that-s-my/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [If a man is going to write on chemistry, he learns chemistry. The same is true of Christianity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/if-a-man-is-going-to-write-on-chemistry-he-learns-chemistry-the-same/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [The first fact in the history of Christendom is a number of people who say they have seen the Resurrection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/the-first-fact-in-the-history-of-christendom-is-a-number-of-people/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [I#pray because the need flows out of me all the time-walking and sleeping. It does not change # God - it changes me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/i-pray-because-the-need-flows-out-of-me-all-the-time-walking-and/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Are the gods not just?' 'Oh no, child. What would become us us if they were?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/are-the-gods-not-just-oh-no-child-what-would-become-us-us-if-they-were/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Love is more than an emotion, it is a decision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/love-is-more-than-an-emotion-it-is-a-decision/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Ink is the great cure for all human ills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/ink-is-the-great-cure-for-all-human-ills/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [A man may have to die for our country: but no man must, in any exclusive sense, live for his country. 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Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Fie on the eloquence that leaves us craving itself, not things!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/fie-on-the-eloquence-that-leaves-us-craving-itself-not-things/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [The beauty of a cuckoo is in its notes, that of a woman in her unalloyed devotion to her husband, that of an ugly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chanakya/the-beauty-of-a-cuckoo-is-in-its-notes-that-of-a-woman-in-her/) [Chanakya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chanakya/) > [The principle of asceticism never was, nor ever can be, consistently pursued by any living creature. 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But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/asceticism-is-the-right-way-of-thinking-for-those-who-have-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Browse all 113 Asceticism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asceticism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Some have paid me an undeserved compliment by supposing that my Letters were the ripe fruit of many years' study in moral and ascetic theology. They forgot that there is an equally reliable, though less creditable, way of learning how temptation works.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "C. S. 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