Have you ever heard this quote?
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” –C.S. Lewis (qtd. by Goodreads).
It sounds like something CS Lewis might say. But here’s the thing. He didn’t say it. Ever. Or if he did, he never wrote it down. People say that quote is from Mere Christianity. But it’s not. Don’t believe me? Look at it for yourself. https://www.dacc.edu/assets/pdfs/PCM/merechristianitylewis.pdf
use Function Search and look for the quote. Nothing comes up. Look for Humility. Nothing similar to the widely known "Mere Christianity" quote. The closest you will get is this:
“ Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call "humble"
nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course,
he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who
took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little
envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will
not be thinking about himself at all.” –C.S. Lewis.
Before you go cry in the corner because your favorite quote is not actually by C.S. Lewis, consider this.
Compare these two quotes: the false C.S. Lewis quote, and what C.S. Lewis actually said.
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less” –CS Lewis (qtd. by Goodreads) (misquote).
“He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all” –C.S. Lewis (true quote).
The false quote sounds pretty. It has lovely parallelism. In paraphrase, what it says is this: Humility is thinking about others, not thinking about yourself- it doesn’t matter whether you think good things or bad things about yourself. Which, in itself, is a lovely thing to say and very true.
The real quote, however, says this, in paraphrase: Not only will a humble person not think about themselves at all (Including good and bad things) they will also not have the goal of being humble- they won’t be trying to be humble because they won’t be thinking about it. C.S. Lewis is implying that a truly humble person isn’t thinking about making himself humble. A truly humble person is thinking about others.
My guess is that someone tried to paraphrase C.S. Lewis’s original quote and because it was catchy and sounded smart, people remembered it. They quoted it and forgot that it was a paraphrase so they put the quotations there (paraphrases should still be quoted, but because it’s not word-for-word, no quotation marks ought to be used). A simple and innocent mistake. But innocent or not, it’s scary. Why?
Because at first glance, they say the same thing. But the misquote left out the most important part- “He will not be thinking about humility”. To me, this sounds like C.S. Lewis is saying that to be humble, you must not think about others because you want to make yourself humble. Because that would mean you were doing it for yourself, and every time you did something humble you would be aware of it and become more and more proud of how humble you are. But that would be an oxymoron. If you were humble for the sake of being humble, it would not, and could not possibly, be true humility. True humility would mean you were doing whatever you do for others. Because I would think, by C.S. Lewis’s definition, humility really means selflessness. This is what I have pieced together. But the truth is, there’s a lot of meaning in that first half of the true quote that the popular misquote leaves out.
“He will not be thinking about humility”.
Different people could take this original quote different ways. But the truth that lies undisputed is this: That first half of the original quote? Very important. Without it, a great deal of the original meaning is lost.
Spread the word. Don’t quote the misquote. Don’t let the true words of C.S. Lewis be forgotten just because a paraphrase sounds prettier. It’s not fair to C.S. Lewis. It’s not fair to anyone who hears it or quotes it.
Spread the word. C.S. Lewis never said that Pinterest quote. It's a still a good quote, with a good meaning we should strive towards. But C.S. Lewis didn't say it. he said more than that. So while you can keep the original quote hanging over your bookshelf, add this one beside it:
“He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all” –C.S. Lewis.
And- scratch C.S. Lewis's name off the first one while you're at it, would you?
Stay foten!
-Elly Toast
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” –C.S. Lewis (qtd. by Goodreads).
It sounds like something CS Lewis might say. But here’s the thing. He didn’t say it. Ever. Or if he did, he never wrote it down. People say that quote is from Mere Christianity. But it’s not. Don’t believe me? Look at it for yourself. https://www.dacc.edu/assets/pdfs/PCM/merechristianitylewis.pdf
use Function Search and look for the quote. Nothing comes up. Look for Humility. Nothing similar to the widely known "Mere Christianity" quote. The closest you will get is this:
“ Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call "humble"
nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course,
he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who
took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little
envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will
not be thinking about himself at all.” –C.S. Lewis.
Before you go cry in the corner because your favorite quote is not actually by C.S. Lewis, consider this.
Compare these two quotes: the false C.S. Lewis quote, and what C.S. Lewis actually said.
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less” –CS Lewis (qtd. by Goodreads) (misquote).
“He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all” –C.S. Lewis (true quote).
The false quote sounds pretty. It has lovely parallelism. In paraphrase, what it says is this: Humility is thinking about others, not thinking about yourself- it doesn’t matter whether you think good things or bad things about yourself. Which, in itself, is a lovely thing to say and very true.
The real quote, however, says this, in paraphrase: Not only will a humble person not think about themselves at all (Including good and bad things) they will also not have the goal of being humble- they won’t be trying to be humble because they won’t be thinking about it. C.S. Lewis is implying that a truly humble person isn’t thinking about making himself humble. A truly humble person is thinking about others.
My guess is that someone tried to paraphrase C.S. Lewis’s original quote and because it was catchy and sounded smart, people remembered it. They quoted it and forgot that it was a paraphrase so they put the quotations there (paraphrases should still be quoted, but because it’s not word-for-word, no quotation marks ought to be used). A simple and innocent mistake. But innocent or not, it’s scary. Why?
Because at first glance, they say the same thing. But the misquote left out the most important part- “He will not be thinking about humility”. To me, this sounds like C.S. Lewis is saying that to be humble, you must not think about others because you want to make yourself humble. Because that would mean you were doing it for yourself, and every time you did something humble you would be aware of it and become more and more proud of how humble you are. But that would be an oxymoron. If you were humble for the sake of being humble, it would not, and could not possibly, be true humility. True humility would mean you were doing whatever you do for others. Because I would think, by C.S. Lewis’s definition, humility really means selflessness. This is what I have pieced together. But the truth is, there’s a lot of meaning in that first half of the true quote that the popular misquote leaves out.
“He will not be thinking about humility”.
Different people could take this original quote different ways. But the truth that lies undisputed is this: That first half of the original quote? Very important. Without it, a great deal of the original meaning is lost.
Spread the word. Don’t quote the misquote. Don’t let the true words of C.S. Lewis be forgotten just because a paraphrase sounds prettier. It’s not fair to C.S. Lewis. It’s not fair to anyone who hears it or quotes it.
Spread the word. C.S. Lewis never said that Pinterest quote. It's a still a good quote, with a good meaning we should strive towards. But C.S. Lewis didn't say it. he said more than that. So while you can keep the original quote hanging over your bookshelf, add this one beside it:
“He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all” –C.S. Lewis.
And- scratch C.S. Lewis's name off the first one while you're at it, would you?
Stay foten!
-Elly Toast
~The Question of the Week: What's your favorite quote and why?~
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