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The only non-Christians who seemed to me really to know anything were the Romantics; and a good many of them were dangerously tinged with something like religion, even at times with Christianity. The upshot of it all could nearly be expressed in a perversion of Roland's great line in the Chanson: 'Christians are wrong, but all the rest are bores.'

C. S. Lewis#84

FaithPhilosophyReligionWisdomCultureTolerance

About this quote

What does it mean?
Even non-Christian thinkers often show deep spiritual or religious insights.
In plain terms
Non-Christians can be wise, and some act like believers.
What can you take from it?
Respect spiritual wisdom wherever you find it, even outside your faith.

Where it applies

  • interfaith dialogue
  • philosophical study
  • criticism

Putting it to work

  • look beyond labels
  • find common ground

Questions to consider

  • Where have you seen wisdom outside your group?
  • Can you value ideas without sharing the faith?

Another view

It dismisses non-religious people as boring.

More from C. S. Lewis

  1. The First [Friend] is the alter ego, the man who first reveals to you that you are not alone in the world by turning out (beyond hope) to share all your most s…

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  2. Enough had been thought, and said, and felt, and imagined. It was about time that something should be done.

    Permalink to quote #85
  3. I fancy that most people who think at all have done a great deal of their thinking in the first fourteen years.

    Permalink to quote #82

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