My Favorite Narnia Quotes

If I could only read one book series for the rest of my life, it would be a close tie between J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and the seven books that make up C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Fortunately, I haven’t had to choose, and I go back to both series quite frequently. As Lewis said, any book worth reading is worth reading more than once! Below are my favorite quotes from each of the seven Narnia books. Perhaps I will do a similar post for the Lord of the Rings series.

“[Polly] felt sure that it was a call, and that anyone who heard that call would want to obey it and (what’s more) would be able to obey it, however many worlds and ages lay between. And so, though she was filled with wonder, she was not really astonished or shocked when all of a sudden a young woman, with a kind, honest face stepped out of nowhere and stood beside her…fetched out of our world not by any tiresome magic rings, but quickly and sweetly as a bird flies to its nest. The young woman had apparently been in the middle of a washing day, for she wore an apron, her sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and there were soapsuds on her hands.” – The Magician’s Nephew, p. 163

“People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time.” – The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, p. 140

“There was only one lion, said the Voice…I was the lion…I was the lion who forced you to join with Arvis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses the new strength of fear so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.” Aslan to Shasta, The Horse and His Boy, p. 175-176.

“Oh, Aslan! I knew it was true. I’ve been waiting for this all my life. Have you come to take me away?” “Yes, Dearest,” said Aslan. “But not the long journey yet.” – Auntie and Aslan, Prince Caspian

“I do not know what it means, but the spell has been on me all my life.” – Reepicheep, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, p. 22

“But there’s one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones…And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That ‘s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live like a Narnian even if there isn’t any Narnia.” – Puddleglum, The Silver Chair, p. 190-191

“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it until now. The reason we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this.” – Jewel, The Last Battle, p. 213