You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
—C.S. Lewis
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
New year, new goals, new dreams
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You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
—C.S. Lewis
Has anyone ever found out the source? Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteI searched Google Groups for "never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream". I searched by date from 1981 to 2012. The first time this quotation appears is August 6, 2003, and in that context it is given as good advice without any attribution at all. It doesn't even say CSL said it. I thought that was odd. In contrast, I did the same kind of search on "of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised." The first time THAT CSL quotation appears in a Google Groups search is June 17, 1994, and the tyranny quotation is in quotes and says (correctly) that it is a CSL quotation. It bothers me that the "never too old" quotation does not appear until 2003, long after the popularity of the internet rose.
ReplyDeleteThe large number of self edited sites that include the"never too old" quotation means little, since they can all quote from each other without checking sources, and NONE of the 12 sites I checked give a chapter or book or year.
I also checked wikiquote, which requires that the quotes be sourced. "never too old to set another" does not appear at all.
My conclusion, tentatively, is that the author of the "never too old" quotation is "anonymous", NOT C.S. Lewis. But if it is a real CSL quotation, I'd like to see what book has it.
Well done, Renegade Dwarf. Thanks so much for your solid research. I think you've nailed this one -- C.S. Lewis did NOT say it. I appreciate what you've added to Mere C.S. Lewis by doing this work for us. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have a suspicion that IF Professor Lewis actually said this, it was probably in the context of one of his lectures that was not bound into one of the lecture based books. It has the sound of a lecture comment, but I think that Renegade Dwarf is correct about it not being documentable (excellent research by the way Dwarf - great work!).
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like something Professor Lewis would have said, but it also sounds like it could be a Chicken Soup For The Soul original as well. Let's keep researching it and see if we can find a specific reference to this being a Lewis quote.
Yes, I too would certainly welcome any further information on the source of this quote.
ReplyDeleteBlasphemer!
ReplyDeleteI always see this quote attributed to Lewis, but I don't think it sounds a bit like him. Way too trite!
ReplyDeleteI can't place this quote in any of the writings of C.S. Lewis either. I have found quite a few web pages that attribute it to a 'Les Brown', who seems to be a motivational speaker.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think it it even _sounds_ like something Lewis would have said -- the saccharine sentimental B.S-iness of it.
ReplyDeleteHave seen this attributed to C.S. Lewis too and would surely love to know where it was. I am guilty myself to credit this to C.S. Lewis whenever I used it.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that anyone who is actually familiar with the bulk of CS Lewis' oeuvre would accept that this is a quote, without full attribution, including publisher and page #. He was NOT likely to have spewed pop 21st century psycho-babble!
ReplyDeleteThis may have been the source: http://news.investors.com/management-leaders-in-success/091313-670962-cs-lewis-learned-from-his-critics.htm?p=full