Tuesday, September 4, 2007

C.S. Lewis

Does anyone know where this quote of C.S. Lewis' came from?

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busy bodies. 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 with out end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.---C.S. Lewis

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What a great quote! I sent it off to my friend who knows all things C.S. Lewis. When she responds I'll post it for you here.

In the meantime:

I posted this on my blog today:

"Okay, I'll admit it. Anne Bradshaw over at Not Entirely British did a really good thing and I am shamelessly borrowing from her idea of spotlighting the most amazing youth in the world. I think it is incredible what she has done and the youth that are the finalists in her contest are truly amazing. If you haven't gone to her blog yet, read about them and vote, you're going to want to do that as soon as you're done reading mine, submitting a nomination and generally recognizing that I'm the greatest blogger to ever walk the earth . . . all right, all right, you don't have to do that last part. As long as it exists in my mind I'm okay with that.

Announcing the Best Husband in the World Contest -- please check out my blog today."

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right?

Unknown said...

Okay Sandra, she came through for me. That would be Donna Goff through the Donna's Journey on my blogspot. Here's what she said:

It is an essay on The Humanitarian Theory of Punishmen. The theme of busybodies seems to run through a lot of his works. This specific quote can be found in "God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics."

I loved his Abolition of Man, Weight of Glory, The Great Divorce, and Screwtape Letters.

Unknown said...

It's found in "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," Res Judicatae (June 1953).