On Diaries

If Theism had done nothing else for me, I should still be thankful that it cured me of the time-wasting and foolish practice of keeping a diary. (Even for autobiographical purposes a diary is nothing like as useful as I had hoped. You put down each day what you think important; but of course you cannot each day see what will prove to have been important in the long run.)

Footnote: The only real good I got from keeping a diary was that it taught me a just appreciation of Boswell's amazing genius. I tried very hard to reproduce conversations, in some of which very amusing and striking people had taken part. But none of these people came to life in the diary at all. Obviously something quite different from mere accurate reporting went to the presentation of Boswell's Langton, Beauclerk, Wilkes, and the rest.

C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1955. p.219-220