G.K. Chesterton
soldier fight hates front loves behind
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
poets mystery silent subject cheese
“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
literature luxury fiction necessity
“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
fairy tale children dragon kill
“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
absentminded presence mind unaware
“I am not absentminded. It is the presence of mind that makes me unaware of everything else.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
uninteresting things uninterested people
“There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
education deadly danger educated people seriously
“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
traveler see tourist come
“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
bible love enemy neighbor same people
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
two ways enough accumulate more desire less
“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
christian ideal tried found wanting difficult untried
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
novel good truth hero bad author
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
adventure inconvenience considered rightly wrongly
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
open-minded brains fall out
“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
right do thing doing
“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
feminist mixed muddle idea free employer slave husband
“It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
religious liberty free discuss religion mention
“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
art morality draw line
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
fallacies cease become fashion
“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
see solution problem
“It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
dead stream with living against
“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
humility mother giant great valley small peak
“Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
man worship education gentle contempt complete
“No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
rule architecture castle cloud
“There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
woman intelligence reason support intuition
“A woman uses her intelligence to find reasons to support her intuition.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
impartiality pompous name indifference ignorance
“Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference which is an elegant name for ignorance.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
music dinner insult cook violinist
“Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
tradition obscure class ancestor democracy of the dead
“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
comic tragedy deuce else
“Always be comic in a tragedy. What the deuce else can you do?”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
journalism lord jones dead people knew alive journalist
“Journalism largely consists in saying "Lord Jones is dead" to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
christmas paradox birth homeless celebrate
“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
new year new nose feet eyes resolution start fresh
“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
terrible contemplate few politicians hanged
“It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
truth ten commandments evidence religion permitted forbidden
“The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
men govered ten commandments thousand
“If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
science impose philosophy telephone say
“Science must not impose any philosophy, any more than the telephone must tell us what to say.”
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
poet head heaven logician chesterton
“The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
universe enemy philosophy
"The most practical and important thing about a man is still his view of the universe...We think that for a general about to fight an enemy, it is important to know the enemy's numbers, but still more important to know the enemy's philosophy."
—G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
architecture sunset nocturnal art fireworks
"All architecture is great architecture after sunset; perhaps architecture is really a nocturnal art, like the art of fireworks."
― G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)