Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books

  • Home
  • About
    • Work With Me
    • My CV
    • Tools
    • Books
    • Series
  • Newsletter
  • Advertising
You are here: Home / Not Books / C.S. Lewis On Fear

C.S. Lewis On Fear

C.S. Lewis On Fear

Here is a great quote by C.S. Lewis on fear.

It’s been floating around the last few days in regard to the coronavirus.

But this is much more timeless than that.

This attitude should permeate everything that we do.

Let’s not lose our humanity in the face of fear.

Ok?

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Not BooksTagged With: #Fear, #Human

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Privacy Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Free Weekly Newsletter:

Search

Recent Posts

  • The Bittersweet Road Of Parenting
  • Instabooks 343
  • Waiting For That Long Black Train
  • Parenting Disposition: Improved
  • If You Want To Be A Writer Then…
  • Goes On In It’s Frozen Way
  • Protect Children From Disappointment?
  • Because You Did The Work
  • Fluffed Up Over Your Ears And
  • Dependent On Us Is Not The Parenting Goal
  • Snow Day 2021
  • They Force You To Be Precise
  • The Week In Review – 248
  • Explore The Answer For Themselves
  • Random Thoughts – 272
  • Falling Now A Shot Of Breath
  • Are You Asking Your Children Too Many Questions?
  • Of Children To Have Is Three
  • The Simple Joy Of Elevator Buttons
  • Respect The Struggle Of Your Kids
  • And Most Everything That Weighs
  • The Power Of Words
  • 6 Ways To Encourage Autonomy In Your Children
  • To Say And Nothing To Do
  • My 7 Most Popular Posts Of 2020

Copyright © 2021 · Generate Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in