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The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There's not one of them which won't make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it isn't. If you leave out justice you'll find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials 'for the sake of humanity' and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.

C. S. Lewis#62

LoveMoralityJusticeDangerImpulse

About this quote

What does it mean?
Elevating any single human impulse to an absolute guide turns us into devils; even love of humanity without justice leads to cruelty and treachery.
In plain terms
Making any impulse absolute makes us evil; loving humanity without justice makes us cruel.
What can you take from it?
No single impulse should rule absolutely; balance it with justice.

Where it applies

  • moral choices
  • leadership
  • decision making

Putting it to work

  • balance impulses
  • check justice against love

Questions to consider

  • Which impulse might you overvalue?
  • How have you seen love become cruel?

Another view

Determining which impulses need balance is itself subjective.

More from C. S. Lewis

  1. [Christians] believe that the living, dynamic activity of love has been going on in God forever and has created everything else. And that, by the way, is perha…

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  2. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right …

    Permalink to quote #63
  3. My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked un…

    Permalink to quote #60

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