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What Lewis NEVER Wrote: Quotes Misattributed to the Oxford Professor Don William O'flaherty Inklings Forever Volume 9 A Collection of Essays Presented at the Ninth Frances White Ewbank Colloquium on C.S. Lewis & Article 13 Friends 5-29-2014 What Lewis NEVER Wrote: Quotes Misattributed to the Oxford Professor Don William O'Flaherty Follow this and additional works at: https://pillars.taylor.edu/inklings_forever Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, History Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation O'Flaherty, William (2014) "What Lewis NEVER Wrote: Quotes Misattributed to the Oxford Professor Don," Inklings Forever: Vol. 9 , Article 13. Available at: https://pillars.taylor.edu/inklings_forever/vol9/iss1/13 This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for the Study of C.S. Lewis & Friends at Pillars at Taylor University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Inklings Forever by an authorized editor of Pillars at Taylor University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INKLINGS FOREVER, Volume IX A Collection of Essays Presented at the Ninth FRANCES WHITE EWBANK COLLOQUIUM on C.S. LEWIS & FRIENDS Taylor University 2014 Upland, Indiana What Lewis NEVER Wrote: Quotes Misattributed to the Oxford Professor Don William O’Flaherty EssentialCSLewis.com O’Flaherty, William. “What Lewis NEVER Wrote: Quotes Misattributed to the Oxford Professor Don” Inklings Forever 9 (2014) www.taylor.edu/cslewis What Lewis NEVER Wrote: Quotes Misattributed to the Oxford Professor Don William O’Flaherty EssentialCSLewis.com "Nothing can deceive unless it bears a Before considering some quotations plausible resemblance to reality." incorrectly credited to Lewis, I want to briefly ponder a questionable quote that is obviously - C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism not by him to draw a parallel. The following statement is generally accepted and some believe it is in the Bible: I. INTRODUCTION Money is the root of all evil. As you may notice from this title, I intentionally made an error and corrected it. Of course, something very close to C.S. Lewis never held the title of “professor” this is in the Bible. However, a few important when at Oxford. However, he did when he words are missing from that statement. worked at Cambridge. When many of his Examining the KJV of 1 Timothy 6:10 we see books were published in the 1940’s it stated the following: “The love of money is the root that Lewis was “Fellow of Magdalen College, of all evil” (emphasis added). Oxford.” 1 Unlike the quotations examined in a Of course, if one were to rank moment, this misquotation from the Bible erroneous information on a scale of 1-10 (“1” merely lacks some key words. Quotations being minor and “10’ being major), then this falsely credited to Lewis are typically not mistake would rank on the lower end of that similar in that way, that is, we cannot simply gauge. Yet, when it comes to truth, in an add a few words to make it into a statement absolute sense, something is either correct or by him. incorrect. Therefore, stating Lewis was an What does this have to do with Lewis? Oxford Professor is false. I’m setting the stage for an understanding of In the same vein, when considering why quotes I’ll be examining are likely whether or not a quotation is by Lewis; it misattributed to him. In some examples the either is, or is not. It doesn’t matter if you like statement is close to what Lewis actually the statement or not, or how close it may be wrote. to something he actually said. He either wrote In other cases it may not be anything it or he did not.2 related to what Lewis wrote, but it is a What Lewis NEVER Wrote · William O’Flaherty statement that the people reading it believe is Lewis. Hannah Peckham, in a 2012 post on true. Referring back to the quotation falsely Mere Orthodoxy reveals her discovery that an attributed to the Bible; people either are not 1892 monthly journal called The British noticing some words are missing, or actually Friend had a piece stating George MacDonald believe the statement and having the Bible as made a statement very close to the popular the source adds weight to their conviction of quotation we see today.3 its truth. “Never tell a child,” said George Thus, when someone shares the Macdonald, “you have a soul. Teach above incorrect quotation and states the Bible him, you are a soul; you have a says it is true, those less familiar with body.” Scripture will easily accept it as truth because While Lewis was a fan of MacDonald it a recognize authority is sited as the source. is unclear if he was familiar with this article. When considering whether or not However, we do know that in a book Lewis Lewis actually wrote something it is edited, George MacDonald: An Anthology, this important to realize that this author is not quote is not present. directly addressing whether or not the There are those who wish Lewis had statement is true. It is beyond the purpose of made the statement because it appears to this paper to debate the accuracy of the confirm a belief that the material world is not quotation. Rather, the focus is merely to all there is. However, some are concerned provide proof that Lewis is not the source of that this quotation is supportive of gnostic the material. notions which Lewis would clearly reject. In what follows I provide a quotation Either way, the purpose of this paper is not to that is not found in any of C.S. Lewis’s debate the meaning of the quotation or the published works. The actual source or likely truth of it, but to merely show that Lewis source is presented for the questionable never wrote it. statement. In some cases I explore why Lewis What has Lewis said on the topic? would not have made such a statement. Below is a passage from the fifth chapter of Finally, what Lewis actually wrote (or the The Four Loves. There is also a lengthier closest thing to it) is presented. section (not provided here) in chapter eleven of Perelandra that also touches on some elements expressed in the quotation in question. II. YOU DON’T HAVE A SOUL Man has held three views of his The first quotation to consider is "You body. First there is that of those don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have ascetic Pagans who called it the a body." In Imperfect Reflections, a blog by a prison or the “tomb” of the soul, and person merely identifying as being by of Christians like Fisher to whom it Mackenzie, the author points out that a was a “sack of dung,” food for character in Walter Miller’s 1959 book worms, filthy, shameful, a source of Canticle for Leibowiltz says “You don’t have a nothing but temptation to bad men soul, Doctor. You are a soul. You have a body, and humiliation to good ones. Then temporarily.” Yet, there is actually an earlier there are the Neo-Pagans (they source for this quote falsely attributed to seldom know Greek), the nudists What Lewis NEVER Wrote · William O’Flaherty and the sufferers from Dark Gods, to Narnia series came out could think that whom the body is glorious. But proves he might have written something thirdly we have the view which St. similar. However, prior to Narnia, Lewis was Francis expressed by calling his famous because of The Screwtape Letters that body “Brother Ass.” All three may came out as a book in 1942 and it was chiefly be—I am not sure—defensible; but this that led to him being on the cover of Time give me St. Francis for my money. in 1947, well before Narnia was published! So, what has Lewis said that might be related? As you will see it was not anything that would be considered all that III. NEVER TOO OLD motivational: If you happen to be facing fewer years Progress means getting nearer to a ahead of you than are behind you (like desired goal and therefore means myself), than you likely wish the following not being there already.6 statement is correct: “You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new Once a dream has become a fact I dream.” While many hope such a suppose it loses something. This proclamation is true, falsely attributing it to isn’t affectation: we long & long for a Lewis doesn’t make it any more accurate, but thing and when it comes it turns out some find it more believable if a person as to be just a pleasant incident, very famous as Lewis stated it. much like others.7 Growing up in the 1970’s I recall Courage is not simply one of the hearing something similar to this quotation in virtues, but the form of every virtue relation to the fact that Kentucky Fried at the testing point, which means, at Chicken is a franchise that didn’t start until the point of highest reality.8 Colonel Sanders was in his 60’s. A notion like this can be great motivation to those wanting IV. BAD EGGS to find success later in life. A somewhat more recent quotation When exploring the actual source for going around the Internet is actually vaguely this quotation I found it on a website by Les related to what Lewis really wrote. This Brown, a motivational speaker that appears quote, “No clever arrangement of bad eggs 4 to credit him as the creator of the quote.
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