---
title: "But how can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the p… — C. S. Lewis Quote #75 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "But how can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer, we are not even the audience. We are on the … — a quote by C. S. Lewis."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # But how can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer, we are not even the audience. We are on the stage. To play well the scenes in which we are 'on' concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it.

[C. S. Lewis](https://quotesby.net/C.-S.-Lewis)\#75

[Life](https://quotesby.net/C.-S.-Lewis/life/)[Purpose](https://quotesby.net/C.-S.-Lewis/purpose/)[Narrative](https://quotesby.net/topics/narrative/)[Present](https://quotesby.net/topics/present/)

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## About this quote

What does it mean?Life is like a play where we should focus on acting well in current scenes rather than guessing the plot.In plain termsWe are on stage, so focus on playing your part well, not guessing the future.What can you take from it?Focus on how you act now rather than trying to know the ending.

### Where it applies

- personal development
- stress management
- creative work

### Putting it to work

- focus on the present
- act well in your role

### Questions to consider

- What scene are you in?
- Are you trying to know the ending?

### Another view

It ignores that knowing some plot points helps us act better.

## More from C. S. Lewis

1. > If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

[Permalink to quote \#74](https://quotesby.net/C.-S.-Lewis/74/ "Permalink to quote 74")
2. > I can imagine no man who will look with more horror on the End than a conscientious revolutionary who has, in a sense sincerely, been justifying cruelties and …

[Permalink to quote \#76](https://quotesby.net/C.-S.-Lewis/76/ "Permalink to quote 76")
3. > Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis o…

[Permalink to quote \#73](https://quotesby.net/C.-S.-Lewis/73/ "Permalink to quote 73")

## Related quotes

1. > Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be hap…

[Khalil Gibran](https://quotesby.net/Khalil-Gibran)[Khalil Gibran quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Khalil-Gibran/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")
2. > 'Time lost is time when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering.'

[Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://quotesby.net/Dietrich-Bonhoeffer)[Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")
3. > A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.

[Abraham Maslow](https://quotesby.net/Abraham-Maslow)[Abraham Maslow quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Abraham-Maslow/1/ "Permalink to quote 1")

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