Original artwork, not a still
Disputed attribution: C.S. Lewis
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The joke is Lewis in miniature: an Oxford don who was never short of tea or reading. Bookish people have adopted it as a mug-and-tote-bag motto ever since, which is how a sentence that may only be Hooper's recollection of Lewis's habits became a 'quote' in its own right, with the wording drifting from 'can't' to 'never' on the way.
Context reviewed
In context
May contain spoilersShow the scene
This is not from one of Lewis's novels or essays, but it does have a traceable home. Wikiquote files it under 'Attributed' for C. S. Lewis, citing the preface (page 9) of Of This and Other Worlds, the 1982 collection edited by Walter Hooper, Lewis's secretary and later literary executor. It is therefore a remark reported about Lewis by his editor, not a sentence found in Lewis's own writings. The wording varies from place to place: Wikiquote prints 'You can't get...', many quote sites print 'You can never get...', and one blog gives it as a cup of tea 'big enough' to 'suit him'.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: C. S. LewisAttributed sectionReference checked
- A Pilgrim in Narnia: Books Long Enough for TeaOpening paragraphsReference checked
Context reviewed
