C. S. Lewis quotes
1898 – 1963 · 20th century · Writer, literary scholar, medievalist and Christian apologist
About C. S. Lewis
Born 1898 in Belfast, died 1963 in Oxford. Best known for The Chronicles of Narnia and works of Christian apologetics, he wrote on imagination, ethics and the problem of suffering. His prominence has led to frequent misattribution of anonymous or modern sayings to him.
Works: The Chronicles of Narnia; Mere Christianity; The Screwtape Letters; The Problem of Pain
Quotes
“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.”
Source: no specific work is documented · Check the source
MisattributedWhat we know
- What is documented
- Available evidence finds no occurrence of this wording in Lewis’s published work; a close variant appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul credited to "Author Unknown."
- What remains uncertain
- The attribution to C. S. Lewis is unreliable: the ‘‘monkey bars’’ phrasing likely postdates Lewis and the true origin remains unestablished.
The image makes recovery feel tangible: progress sometimes demands letting go before you can move on. It’s a modern motivational analogy, widely shared online — but no primary source ties these exact words to C. S. Lewis.