UPDATED (2/6/20) – 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 nineteenth 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 provides more details about the expressions examined.
“The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only – and that is to support the ultimate career.”
What would you do if you made a lot of great statements and people kept paraphrasing them? If you were dead like C.S. Lewis then you would be rolling over in your grave! So, you can probably guess the verdict on this quotation is that it isn’t from him, but he DID write something similar.
What follows is a condensed version of a letter Lewis wrote to Mrs. Johnson on March 16, 1955:
“A housewife’s work…is surely, in reality, the most important work in the world…your job is the one for which all others exist.”
While that statement is clear on the thoughts Lewis conveyed, I’m sure you will find the context even more enjoyable (the above excerpt is in bold):
“I think I can understand that feeling about a housewife’s work being like that of Sisyphus (who was the stone rolling gentleman). But it is surely, in reality, the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government etc exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? As Dr Johnson said, ‘To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavour’. (1st to be happy, to prepare for being happy in our own real Home hereafter: 2nd, in the meantime, to be happy in our houses.) We wage war in order to have peace, we work in order to have leisure, we produce food in order to eat it. So your job is the one for which all others exist.”
The next quote examined is:
Related Articles:
What Lewis NEVER Wrote (Podcast)
Not Quite Lewis – Podcast Version
Not Quite Lewis – Questionable Lewisian Quotations (Conf. Paper)
Thank you for clarifying this quote! I had heard it and that it was a C.S. Lewis quote, but I wanted to make sure I’d gotten the quote correctly written down and also locate the actual source (I, too, am very aware of misquotes, and thus seek to have a credible source). Initial research didn’t yield anything about the source, so I’m very glad to have found this article! And yes, the full context (and correct wording) make this all the better!
I’m happy to hear you are one of the many growing number of people who actually care about checking sources!