The Four Loves
From Tolkien Gateway
| The Four Loves | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | C.S. Lewis |
| Publisher | Ireland: Harvest Books |
| Released | 1960 |
| Format | Hardcover, paperback |
| Pages | 160 (1st edition) |
| ISBN | 0156329301 |
The Four Loves is a book by C.S. Lewis which explores the nature of love from a Christian perspective through thought-experiments and examples from literature. In a passage in the chapter on friendship ("Philia - Friendship"), Lewis invokes his friends J.R.R. Tolkien ("Ronald") and Charles Williams ("Charles") as examples:
- "In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him 'to myself' now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. ... We possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases."
- ― C.S. Lewis
