HomeQuotesC.S. Lewis
Literature and scripture
He sees as well as you do that courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions.
The Screwtape Letters, Letter XXIX, 1942
Literature and scripture
✓ Checked against the sources below

What this means, and why it matters to a father

Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters as a series of fictional letters from a senior demon to his nephew — a dark comedy about how evil works against human souls. This passage appears in Letter XXIX, where the demon acknowledges what they fear most in a man.

There is more to this one. The full context — the events behind the words, what the author was living through, and how it applies to the specific situations of fatherhood — is in the app under Deeper Understanding.

Read the full context in DadVice

Sources

Related themes

courageintegrityidentityresilience

The right words for exactly where you are right now.

DadVice matches wisdom like this to the real situations of fatherhood — the hard conversation, the long night, the moment you do not know what to say. Every quote is sourced. No motivational filler.

Short excerpts are reproduced here for commentary and identification, with full attribution and links to the source. If you hold rights to this text and would like it removed, email contact@dadvice.app and it will be taken down. See our sourcing policy.