# “Put first things first” by C.S. Lewis

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2021/07/26/put-first-things-first-by-c-s-lewis/
- Published: 2021-07-26T12:00:28-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“You can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only
by putting first things first.

From which it would follow that the question, ‘What things are first?’ is of concern
not only to philosophers but to everyone.

It is impossible, in this context, not to inquire what our own civilization has 
been putting first for the last thirty years. And the answer is plain.

It has been putting itself first.”

–C.S. Lewis, “[First and Second Things](https://amzn.to/36VAPYo),” [_God in the Dock: Essays on God and Ethics_](https://amzn.to/36VAPYo),
Ed. Walter Hooper (New York: Harper, 1970), 280-281.

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