UPDATED (7/7/18) – The Misquotable C.S. Lewis is my book that examines 75 quotations attributed to Lewis that I caution you not to share. Some are falsely attributed to him, others are paraphrases of his words, and a few have context issues. Don’t share a quote attributed to Lewis unless you can confirm he wrote it and the meaning is clear without the context!

The following was the sixth quote I examined that led me to write The Misquotable C.S. Lewis. I started calling quotes like this as “questionable” because I wanted people to question whether or not Lewis wrote it. This led me to come up with three main categories, or types of misquotes. You can learn about that in the INTRODUCTION to this series. There is also an “at a glance” page to see what quotations I’ve covered in the online series. Please note that the book has revised entries and provide more details about the expressions examined.  

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

Humility is something that when it is lacking in another person is very easy to notice. However, we are often unaware when it is missing in our own lives. Thus, this virtue is clearly a desirable quality and finding expressions that support it is all that matters. The details of who exactly stated the quotation isn’t very important, right? Of course, promoting one respected quality at the sacrifice of another doesn’t make much sense.

That’s where the above quotation comes in. It’s a lovely concise expression that helps clarify what it means to be truly humble. For readers of C.S. Lewis it might  “sound” a lot like him, because he was known for expressing complex ideas in succinct ways. However, this saying is not from him. How can I state this with certainty? First, it is not found in any of Lewis’s writings. Though some places reference Mere Christianity, it is not found there. The fact that it is located in another author’s book doesn’t necessarily mean they are the source. However, this quotation is found in a book that is known for having a lot of footnotes and citations. That book is The Purpose Driven Life and the author is Rick Warren. In the 2002 (original) edition it is found on Day 19 in a chapter entitled “Cultivating Community.”

As noted below, Lewis did write on the subject of humility and made statements that are similar. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rick Warren had been inspired by Lewis’s writings. Yet, in this case, whether or not it is a paraphrase of Lewis, he did NOT write it and shouldn’t be given credit. Rick Warren is the author of the statement and when sharing this expression that fact should be noted.

WHAT LEWIS SAID ABOUT HUMILITY:

“It is better to forget about yourself altogether.”
from Mere Christianity, book 3, chapter 8 (The Great Sin)

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“If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud.”
from Mere Christianity, book 3, chapter 8 (The Great Sin)

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“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will…not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”
from Mere Christianity, book 3, chapter 8 (The Great Sin)

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“May God’s grace give you the necessary humility. Try not to think—much less, speak—of their sins. One’s own are a much more profitable theme! And if on consideration, one can find no faults on one’s own side, then cry for mercy: for this must be a most dangerous delusion.”
from The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3 (to Mary Willis Shelbrune on 1/9/1961)

The next quote examined is:

“You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.”

Related Articles:

Surprised By Misquotes (2018 Taylor Talk)

Exploring C.S. Lewis Misquotes and Misconceptions (2017 6-part podcast series)

What Lewis NEVER Wrote  (Podcast)

Not Quite Lewis – Podcast Version

Not Quite Lewis – Questionable Lewisian Quotations (Conf. Paper)

Updated 7/7/2018
Originally posted 9/26/2015