QotD: The Magician's Nephew

I never did post the second quote from C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair. I'll have to in the near future. The crystal clarity with which Lewis saw the world and then transformed that vision into wondrous children's stories still staggers my mind after this my sixth reading of these books.

Tonight, reading through the second to the last book (NOT the first) of the Narnian Chronicles, The Magician's Nephew, with my girls, I came across this passage. Listen carefully to the words of evil Uncle Andrew.

"Oh, I see. You mean that little boys ought to keep their promises. Very true: most right and proper, I'm sure, and I'm very glad you have been taught to do it. But of course you must understand that rules of that sort, however excellent they may be for little boys--and servants--and women--and even people in general, can't possibly be expected to apply to profound students and great thinkers and sages. No, Digory. Men like me who possess hidden wisdom, are freed from common rules just as we are cut off from common pleasures..."

As he said this he sighed and looked so grave and noble and mysterious that for a second Digory really thought he was saying something rather fine. But then he remembered the ugly look he had seen on his Uncle's face the moment before Polly had vanished: and all at once he saw through Uncle Andrew's grand words. "All it means," he said to himself, "is that he thinks he can do anything he likes to get anything he wants."

Oy. The applications for that in America 2009 are endless. I'll leave you to chew upon it while your stomach turns.

Perhaps some Marshwiggle philosophy later in the week...