“It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.”
Image credits：Aronsyne,”Lewis, age 48″,CC BY-SA 4.0,C.S.-Lewis – C. S. Lewis – Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963
- Born in Ireland
- Writer, scholar
- Had a major influence on fantasy literature and religious thought through his many works, including the Chronicles of Narnia series and The Poetics of Christianity
Quote
“It’s so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see one.”
Explanation
In this witty yet insightful quote, C. S. Lewis touches on the difficulty of truly living out our Christian virtues. It’s easy to offer a prayer for someone who we perceive as a bore—someone who might be tiresome or difficult to engage with. However, Lewis points out that it’s far more challenging to take action and actually go and spend time with that person, showing patience and compassion in a practical way. This reflects a broader theme in Lewis’s work: the difference between abstract virtues like kindness, which are easy to affirm in theory, and the concrete application of those virtues in our everyday relationships. While prayer is a good and important practice, it should not serve as a substitute for active, real-world engagement with those in need, even if that engagement feels inconvenient or uncomfortable.
This quote also highlights the human tendency to favor idealized actions (like praying from a distance) over the more difficult and messy realities of actually living out one’s faith. Historically, Lewis often wrote about the tension between spiritual ideals and the practical realities of human relationships, reminding his readers that true Christian love often requires us to engage in acts of service, patience, and empathy—especially when they are inconvenient or require us to step outside our comfort zones.
In modern life, this message remains particularly relevant. In a culture where virtual interactions and detached forms of compassion (such as liking a post or sending a quick prayer) are increasingly common, Lewis’s words challenge us to embody our faith through active engagement. Whether in our personal relationships or community involvement, it’s easy to pray for change, but much harder to be the change we want to see. This quote invites us to consider how we can practically serve others rather than merely sympathize with them from a distance.
