“Emotions, he was certain, were unreliable and irrelevant to the labor of religious faith.”

“[T]he reason why Shakespeare and Pushkin were great writers was because from the time when they were boys they stood like policemen over their thoughts and didn't allow one small insincerity to creep in.”

“Human relationships were so complicated and always veering in the direction of the irrational.”

“Yet he saw that in all places there was originality, resulting from the human efforts at decoration and ingenious methods of survival.”

“No true love is possible, Lewis demonstrates, until we abandon our claims, our rights, our grievances. Until then we will be trapped in the obscurity of our heart's mixed motives, our will to possess, to control, to be our own gods.”

“A rare objectivity and insight can be imparted regarding this world's struggle for spiritual integrity. In the land of Faerie, the reader may see his small battles writ large in the wars of titans or elves and understand for the first time, his own worth.”

“The only indestructible palace is in the heart.”