posted 9/05/2020

INTRODUCTION

This is the 7th article in a series devoted to clarifying whether or not C.S. Lewis wrote something you’ve seen quoted in a book and/or shared on social media. Each post examines two quotations. The first quote is something I became aware of since my book, The Misquotable C.S. Lewis came out in early 2018.  The second quote is a reminder of one that is mentioned in that work.

The new quote examined usually originates from a question asked by members of my Confirming C.S. Lewis Quotations Facebook group. If you want to see the online versions of quotations I’ve previously explored, then you can see a list at this central online location.

Last time I told you about a quote that included the words, “Human history” and another with “never too old” in it.

7.1 – “…forgive the inexcusable…”

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable in others because Christ has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

What do you call a quotation that’s about 80% correct? Obviously it’s not as bad as something that doesn’t contain any words from an alledged author, right? Absolutely! That’s why I came up with three main types of “misquotes” when it comes to Lewis. As noted elsewhere, some misquotes are “worse” than others. This one about forgiveness fits in what I call “almost Lewis,” meaning it has many of the words Lewis wrote, but there are several errors.

As opposed to the wording you see above, this is the way Lewis wrote it in the essay “On Forgiveness” that is best found in the book entitled The Weight of Glory:

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

Fortunately, the basic meaning is not lost in the popular memes that imperfectly quotes Lewis. However, while not wanting to sound overly picky, is it too much to ask people to share the actual words of an author? I count eighteen words in this quotation and there are four errors (although some memes have a fifth error). With four errors, it means it is about 78% accurate. The most common incorrect version adds the words “in others” and changes one of the words that Lewis wrote (“God”) with another (“Christ”) and forgets a comma.

I know it can be a pain to make sure a quote is accurate before sharing it because it’s so easy to find quotations online credited to people you’ve never read. I can empathize with you, while I’m more careful nowadays, in the past if I saw a quote that I enjoyed that stated something I already believed, then I’d be fairly likely to share it.

So what can you do when it comes to C.S. Lewis? As noted above, I have a Facebook group that you can join and ask a question about a passage you’ve seen credited to Lewis.

7.2 – “…Integrity is…”

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

This quotation is commonly seen on social media (especially Twitter) and I just chuckle whenever I see it credited to Lewis because it’s been almost five years that we’ve known he did not write it.  Plus, at least two other people have nearly the exact words in question. One is from Charles Marshall in his 2003 book Shattering the Glass Slipper and the other is from J.C. Watts, who, in 1996, spoke similar words at the 1996 Republican National Convention.

Lewis also wrote words along the lines of this quote falsely credited to him. Two are from his letters and another in Mere Christianity. In a chapter called “The ‘Cardinal Virtues,’” he concludes with three points to make sure what he wrote is not misunderstood. His initial point relates most to the expression examined. he points out that it actually matters “how or why you did” an action that was considered right.

Find out more by checking out what I wrote back in 2015 about this saying, and/or read about it in my 2018 book, The Misquotable C.S. Lewis.