8 Wisest C.S. Lewis Quotes From The Chronicles Of Narnia

Published Oct 2, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Once head of Screen Rant's Star Wars coverage and co-lead of Superheroes, Tom Bacon now works with the movies and books teams. He's a lifelong fan of the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and loves franchises such as Doctor Who and Marvel. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon, on LinkedIn @tabacon, or on Muckrack under tombacon.

Tom has a wide range of interests, and he continues to serve his university as a volunteer chaplain. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he's into British politics too.

C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia is packed with all the wit and wisdom you'd expect from one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. It's impossible to overstate the influence of C.S. Lewis; he and his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien penned very different books (Tolkien famously wasn't a Narnia fan), but both reshaped the genre. For Lewis, it all began with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and he wrote six sequels over the next six years.

A lay theologian and university lecturer, Lewis is respected both for his tremendous creativity and his remarkable wisdom. This is the man who wrestled with The Problem of Pain, after all, and who described his own faith in Mere Christianity. The Chronicles of Narnia is strongly allegorical (Aslan is about as subtle as a sledgehammer), and it will come as no surprise to see some of the wisest theology in Lewis' fantasy stories. Here are nine quotes that echo through the decades, offering wisdom whether you're a Christian or not.

8 C.S. Lewis on Bravery

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe stars a group of children who are transported to the magical land of Narnia. The High King Peter visits Narnia several times, but he's not great because of some toxic masculinity; no, Peter is open and honest about his weaknesses and vulnerability. One of my favorite descriptions of Peter comes as he faces battle: "Peter did not feel very brave; indeed, he felt he was going to be sick. But that made no difference to what he had to do."

Lewis understood that true courage is not about never feeling fear. How could Peter not be afraid, when he was leading an army into battle against the White Witch and a horde of mythical creatures straight out of fairytales and nightmares? Peter's strength lies not in the idea he's unafraid, but rather in the fact he's willing to do what he has to do despite the fear.

7 Peter's Self-Awareness Is The Reason For His Greatness

Have you ever noticed how the people who want power are the ones who can be trusted with it the least? Peter isn't like that, and it's the reason Aslan appoints him as High King. "If you had felt yourself sufficient, it would have been a proof that you were not," Aslan tells Peter. He doesn't dispel Peter's doubts about his own sufficiency, but tells him that is the reason for his greatness.

I can't help thinking the world would be a very different place if we all learned this lesson from The Chronicles of Narnia. Rather than celebrating people of ambition, we should look at their very ambition as a warning that they may not have the character they need to be trusted in a position or office. Instead of honoring those with endless self-confidence, we should perhaps champion those who know their limits and care more about people.

6 C.S. Lewis On Points Of View

We live in a world where everybody seems to have a point of view on everything, where black is white and up is down, and two people seem able to look at the exact same facts in such a different way. But in The Magician's Nephew, Lewis confronts this head-on. "For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are," Lewis tells us.

Notice that Lewis isn't postmodern in his perspective. He doesn't believe all views are necessarily legitimate, even when they directly contradict; rather, that a different view largely depends both on "where you are standing" and "what sort of person you are." If we are to understand another perspective, these are things we need to consider; and sometimes, we will inevitably conclude that the perspectives are to be rejected on this basis.

5 C.S. Lewis Calls Out Trolling

Sticking with The Magician's Nephew, Lewis offers a cutting criticism of the titular magician, Uncle Andrew. When Andrew sees the great lion Aslan, and watches the creation of Narnia, he can't hear Aslan's music; he just hears an animal's savage roar. "Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed," Lewis explains. Andrew has chosen ignorance, and ignorance becomes his characteristic trait.

I can't help feeling this line is a powerful criticism of internet trolling, which so often consists of choosing ignorance over wisdom for the sake of causing offense. But the more you make that choice, the more it becomes your nature. The troll chooses to try to make themselves stupider, and they so often succeed.

4 Beware Of Getting What You Want

The villain of The Magician's Nephew thinks she comes out on top; she has ruled an entire world, and escaped it to plunder the magic of another. Worse still, her evil will endure throughout the ages. But Aslan knows the truth; "Length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery," he says, "and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it."

Success is often its own reward, and that rewards can be very grim indeed. We've all seen it play out in the wider world, where celebrities and politicians ascend to greatness, but find themselves railing against the misery that comes with it. They have gotten what they wanted the most, but they most certainly do not like it.

3 Believing In Fairytales

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is dedicated to Lewis' goddaughter, Lucy Barfield. "I wrote this story for you," he said, "but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result, you are already too old for fairytales... But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again."

As a child grows up, they naturally put childish things behind them. But later, as the years pass, we all learn to appreciate once again the things we loved when our lives were simpler. It's not just nostalgia, but it's also because we learn to see the wisdom behind these things at last; a wisdom much less sophisticated, and thus so much more profound, than the complexity of our adult lives. When we reach that age, these things become a north star offering much-needed guidance.

2 The Best Lies

To wrap this list up, let's head to one of the Narnia books that has never been adapted for the final two quotes; The Last Battle. The Magician's Nephew is the creation of the world, but this is how the world ends. It does so with a false Aslan, a donkey who looks like a lion but who persuades faithful Narnians to back him.

The heroine Jill meets with the donkey Puzzle and the manipulate ape who controls him, and she realizes just how dangerous they are. "And then she understood the devilish cunning of the enemies' plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger." All the best lies are alloys, falsehoods mixed with a little truth to win us over. That's the key to deception, and the reason it is often so hard to see through.

1 The False Aslan

King Tirian hears of the false Aslan, and doesn't initially know what to make of it. But, despite everything, he insists on heading to see this Aslan — even if doing so leads to his death. "Would it not be better to be dead than to have this horrible fear that Aslan has come and is not like the Aslan we have believed in and longed for? It is as if the sun rose one day and it were a black sun."

If you'll forgive my including one quote that speaks to me so powerfully as a Christian, this one is so very powerful. So many people dress up their politics and positions in Christianity, and so often their teachings have nothing to do with Jesus — just as Puzzle was no real Aslan. When Tirian speaks of a black sun, it reminds me of what that sometimes feels like.