Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

thumb do blog Renato Cardoso
thumb do blog Renato Cardoso
Blog Renato Cardoso

The worst vice


There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. 


I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. 

There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others. 

The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. 

— C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. Chapter 8 in Book III

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This is a book that I urge every Christian and every person considering Christianity to read. C.S. Lewis provides intelligent arguments that make for a solid foundation of faith. I don’t recommend books to people very often. But this one is a must. 

You will thank me later.