Sunday, May 22, 2011

Going back

We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back the soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start over again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.

— C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity,
Book I, Chapter 5, ‘We Have Cause to Be Uneasy’

“Remember who your teachers were…”
2 Timothy 3:14

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Maybe, sometimes, be best thing you can do is nothing at all, lest in your confusion you run straight into peril.