Screwtape Proposes A Toast Quotes

“By universal evolutionism I mean the belief that the very formula of universal process is from imperfect to perfect, from small beginnings to great endings, from the rudimentary to the elaborate: the belief which makes people find it natural to think that morality springs from savage taboos, adult sentiment from infantile sexual maladjustments, thought from instinct, mind from matter, organic from inorganic, cosmos from chaos. This is perhaps the deepest habit of mind in the contemporary world. It seems to me immensely unplausible, because it makes the general course of nature so very unlike those parts of nature we can observe.”
― C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Proposes a Toast

“The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be “undemocratic”. These differences between the pupils—for they are obviously and nakedly individual”
― C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Proposes a Toast

“If they were the right sort of chaps they’d be like me. They’ve no business to be different. It’s undemocratic.”
― C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Proposes a Toast

“Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose. The good work which our philological experts have already done in the corruption of human language makes it unnecessary to warn you that they should never be allowed to give this word a clear and definable meaning.”
― C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Proposes a Toast

“Hidden in the heart of this striving for Liberty there was also a deep hatred of personal freedom. That invaluable man Rousseau first revealed it. In his perfect democracy, you remember, only the state religion is permitted, slavery is restored, and the individual is told that he has really willed (though he didn’t know it) whatever the Government tells him to do. From that starting point, via Hegel (another indispensable propagandist on our side) we easily contrived both the Nazi and the Communist state. Even in England we were pretty successful. I heard the other day that in that country a man could not, without a permit, cut down his own tree with his own axe, make it into planks with his own saw, and use the planks to build a tool-shed in his own garden.”
― C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Proposes a Toast

“Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose. The good work which our philological experts have already done in the corruption of human language makes it unnecessary to warn you that they should never be allowed to give this word a clear and definable meaning. They won't.”
― C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Proposes A Toast

“«Creo en el cristianismo como creo que ha salido el sol: no solo porque lo veo, sino porque gracias a él veo todo lo demás»”
― C.S. Lewis, El diablo propone un brindis

“«En última instancia, solo hay dos clases de personas: las que le dicen a Dios: «hágase Tu voluntad», y aquellas a quienes Dios dice, en el último instante: «hágase tu voluntad». Todos los que están en el infierno lo han decidido así. Sin esta autoelección no podría existir el infierno. Ningún alma que desee la felicidad seria y constantemente la perderá».”
― C.S. Lewis, El diablo propone un brindis