"Don't imagine I've been selected to go ... because I'm anyone in particular. One never can see, or not till long afterwards, why any one was selected for any job. And when one does, it is usually some reason that leaves no room for vanity. Certainly, it is never for what the man himself would have regarded as his chief qualifications."
Elwin Ransom speaking to C.S. Lewis in Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
“I have become a bridge,” said Ransom.
“Sir,” said Merlin,“what will come of this? If they [the Gods] put forth their power, they will unmake all Middle Earth.”
“Their naked power, yes,” said Ransom. “That is why they will work only through a man.”
The magician drew one large hand across his forehead.
“Through a man whose mind is opened to be so invaded,” said Ransom, “one who by his own will once opened it. I take Our Fair Lord to witness that if it were my task, I would not refuse it. But He will not suffer a mind that still has its virginity to be so violated. And through a black magician’s mind Their purity neither can nor will operate. One who has dabbled...in the days when dabbling had not begun to be evil, or was only just beginning...and also a Christian man and a penitent. A tool (I must speak plainly) good enough to be so used and not too good."
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
