G. K. Chesterton - Wikiquote G. K. Chesterton Jump to: navigation , search When some English moralists write about the importance of having character , they appear to mean only the importance of having a dull character. There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. Gilbert Keith Chesterton ( 29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936 ) was a British writer whose prolific and diverse output included works of philosophy , ontology , poetry , play writing, journalism, public lecturing and debating, literary and art criticism , biography, Christian apologetics , and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction. He has been called the "prince of paradox ". See also: Quotes[ edit ] Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference , which is an elegant name for ignorance . There is a certain poetic value , and that a genuine one, in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things. There is beauty , not only in wisdom , but in this dazed and dramatic ignorance . The center of every man's existence is a dream .

The philosophy of this world may be founded on facts , but its business is run on spiritual impressions and atmospheres. Briefly, you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it. Moderate strength is shown in violence , supreme strength is shown in levity . Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference , which is an elegant name for ignorance . The Speaker (15 December 1900) One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night , or deep in sloping meadows, the feeling that every flower and leaf has just uttered something stupendously direct and important, and that we have by a prodigy of imbecility not heard or understood it. There is a certain poetic value , and that a genuine one, in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things. There is beauty , not only in wisdom , but in this dazed and dramatic ignorance . Robert Browning. (1903) The truth is that Tolstoy , with his immense genius , with his colossal faith , with his vast fearlessness and vast knowledge of life , is deficient in one faculty and one faculty alone.

He is not a mystic; and therefore he has a tendency to go mad. Men talk of the extravagances and frenzies that have been produced by mysticism ; they are a mere drop in the bucket. In the main, and from the beginning of time , mysticism has kept men sane. The thing that has driven them mad was logic . ...The only thing that has kept the race of men from the mad extremes of the convent and the pirate-galley, the night-club and the lethal chamber, has been mysticism — the belief that logic is misleading, and that things are not what they seem. Tolstoy (1903) Reason is always a kind of brute force ; those who appeal to the head rather than the heart , however pallid and polite, are necessarily men of violence . We speak of 'touching' a man's heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it. Twelve Types (1903) Charles II The center of every man's existence is a dream . Death , disease , insanity , are merely material accidents, like a toothache or a twisted ankle.

That these brutal forces always besiege and often capture the citadel does not prove that they are the citadel. Twelve Types (1903) "Sir Walter Scott" The simplification of anything is always sensational. Varied Types (1903) He is only a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of the Conservative . Varied Types (1903) There is only one thing that it requires real courage to say, and that is a truism. The Club of Queer Trades (1905) Ch. 5 "The Noticeable Conduct of Professor Chadd" Earnest Freethinkers need not worry themselves so much about the persecutions of the past . Before the Liberal idea is dead or triumphant we shall see wars and persecutions the like of which the world has never seen. Daily News (18 February 1905) Briefly, you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it. Daily News (25 February 1905) The riddle of life is simply this.

For some mad reason in this mad world of ours, the things which men differ about most are exactly the things about which they must be got to agree. Men can agree on the fact that the earth goes round the sun. But then it does not matter a dump whether the earth goes around the sun or the Pleiades. But men cannot agree about morals: sex, property, individual rights, fixity and contracts, patriotism, suicide, public habits of health – these are exactly the things that men tend to fight about. And these are exactly the things that must be settled somehow on strict principles. Study each of them, and you will find each of them works back certainly to a philosophy, probably to a religion. According to Larry Azar (Evolution and Other Fairy Tales, AuthorHouse, 2005, p. 470), Chesterton made this statement on 16 March 1907 When people impute special vices to the Christian Church, they seem entirely to forget that the world (which is the only other thing there is) has these vices much more. The Church has been cruel; but the world has been much more cruel. The Church has plotted; but the world has plotted much more.

The Church has been superstitious; but it has never been so superstitious as the world is when left to itself. The Illustrated London News (14 December 1907) The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. "The Book of Job: An introduction" (1907) When learned men begin to use their reason , then I generally discover that they haven't got any. The Illustrated London News (7 November 1908) Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils ; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable. A man must be orthodox upon most things, or he will never even have time to preach his own heresy. George Bernard Shaw (1909) We have passed the age of the demagogue, the man who has little to say and says it loud. We have come to the age of the mystagogue or don, the man who has nothing to say, but says it softly and impressively in an indistinct whisper. George Bernard Shaw (1909) For my friend said that he opened his intellect as the sun opens the fans of a palm tree, opening for opening's sake, opening infinitely for ever.

But I said that I opened my intellect as I opened my mouth, in order to shut it again on something solid. I was doing it at the moment. And as I truly pointed out, it would look uncommonly silly if I went on opening my mouth infinitely, for ever and ever. Tremendous Trifles (1909) Misers get up early in the morning; and burglars, I am informed, get up the night before. Tremendous Trifles (1909) The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination . What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder. Tremendous Trifles (1909), Ch. 1. Fairy tales , then, are not responsible for producing in children fear , or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey.

What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination . What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God , that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness , and stronger than strong fear. Tremendous Trifles (1909), XVII: "The Red Angel" Paraphrased Variant: Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten. The earliest known attribution of this was an epigraph in Coraline (2004) by Neil Gaiman ; when questioned on this at his official Tumblr account , Gaiman admitted to misquoting Chesterton: "It’s my fault.

When I started writing Coraline, I wrote my version of the quote in Tremendous Trifles, meaning to go back later and find the actual quote, as I didn’t own the book, and this was before the Internet. And then ten years went by before I finished the book, and in the meantime I had completely forgotten that the Chesterton quote was mine and not his. I’m perfectly happy for anyone to attribute it to either of us. The sentiment is his, the phrasing is mine. Paraphrased variant: Fairytales don’t tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairytales tell children that dragons can be killed. Appeared in Criminal Minds 2007 episode Seven Seconds ( IMDB quote entry ) Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils ; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable. Illustrated London News (23 October 1909) "I swear to you, then," said MacIan, after a pause. "I swear to you that nothing shall come between us. I swear to you that nothing shall be in my heart or in my head till our swords clash together.

I swear it by the God you have denied, by the Blessed Lady you have blasphemed; I swear it by the seven swords in her heart. I swear it by the Holy Island where my fathers are, by the honour of my mother, by the secret of my people, and by the chalice of the Blood of God." The atheist drew up his head. "And I," he said, "give my word." The Ball and the Cross (1909), part II: "The Religion of the Stipendiary Magistrate", last paragraphs Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely of exceptions. We announce on flaring posters that a man has fallen off a scaffolding. We do not announce on flaring posters that a man has not fallen off a scaffolding. Yet this latter fact is fundamentally more exciting, as indicating that that moving tower of terror and mystery, a man, is still abroad upon the earth. That the man has not fallen off a scaffolding is really more sensational; and it is also some thousand times more common.

But journalism cannot reasonably be expected thus to insist upon the permanent miracles. Busy editors cannot be expected to put on their posters, "Mr. Wilkinson Still Safe," or "Mr. Jones, of Worthing, Not Dead Yet." They cannot announce the happiness of mankind at all. They cannot describe all the forks that are not stolen, or all the marriages that are not judiciously dissolved. Hence the complex picture they give of life is of necessity fallacious; they can only represent what is unusual. However democratic they may be, they are only concerned with the minority. The Ball and the Cross, part IV: "A Discussion at Dawn", 2nd paragraph The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people. Illustrated London News (16 July 1910) I think that if they gave me leave, Within the world to stand, I would be good through all the day I spent in fairyland. They should not hear a word from me, Of selfishness or scorn, If only I could find the door, If only I were born. By the Babe Unborn poem, Delphi Works of G. K.

Chesterton (Illustrated) [1] Neither reason nor faith will ever die; for men would die if deprived of either. The wildest mystic uses his reason at some stage; if it be only by reasoning against reason. The most incisive sceptic has dogmas of his own; though when he is a very incisive sceptic, he has often forgotten what they are. Faith and reason are in this sense co-eternal; but as the words are popularly used, as loose labels for particular periods, the one is now almost as remote as the other. What was called the Age of Reason has vanished as completely as what are called the Ages of Faith. Anti-Religious Thought In The Eighteenth Century ; first published in "An Outline of Christianity : The Story of our Civilization", Vol. IV, Christianity and Modern Thought (1926) Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. Alarms and Discursions (1910), 'Cheese,' p. 70 But whenever one meets modern thinkers (as one often does) progressing toward a madhouse, one always finds, on inquiry, that they have just had a splendid escape from another madhouse.

Thus, hundreds of people become Socialists, not because they have tried Socialism and found it nice, but because they have tried Individualism and found it particularly nasty. Alarms and Discursions (1910), 'The New House,' pp. 161-162 The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists, as the mother can love the unborn child. Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens Chapter III "Pickwick Papers" (1911) Either criticism is no good at all (a very defensible position) or else criticism means saying about an author the very things that would have made him jump out of his boots. Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens Chapter VI "Old Curiosity Shop" (1911) As for science and religion, the known and admitted facts are few and plain enough. All that the parsons say is unproved. All that the doctors say is disproved. That's the only difference between science and religion there's ever been, or will be.

Michael Moon in Manalive (1912) There are two ways of dealing with nonsense in this world... The academic mind reflects infinity, and is full of light by the simple process of being shallow and standing still. Inglewood in Manalive (1912) Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it. A Miscellany of Men (1912) The rich are the scum of the earth in every country. The Flying Inn (1914) I am not fighting a hopeless fight. People who have fought in real fights don't, as a rule. Patrick Dalroy in The Flying Inn (1914), p 295 To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it. A Short History of England (1917) All government is an ugly necessity. A Short History of England (1917) A change of opinions is almost unknown in an elderly military man.

A Utopia of Usurers (1917) There is in Islam a paradox which is perhaps a permanent menace. The great creed born in the desert creates a kind of ecstasy out of the very emptiness of its own land, and even, one may say, out of the emptiness of its own theology. [...] A void is made in the heart of Islam which has to be filled up again and again by a mere repetition of the revolution that founded it. There are no sacraments ; the only thing that can happen is a sort of apocalypse, as unique as the end of the world ; so the apocalypse can only be repeated and the world end again and again. There are no priests ; and yet this equality can only breed a multitude of lawless prophets almost as numerous as priests. The very dogma that there is only one Mahomet produces an endless procession of Mahomets. "The Real Dr. Johnson," The Common Man (1950) The Defendant (1901)[ edit ] A collection of essays previously published in The Speaker and The Daily News. The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are.

It has been proved a hundred times over that if you really wish to enrage people and make them angry, even unto death, the right way to do it is to tell them that they are all the sons of God. The cause which is blocking all progress today is the subtle scepticism which whispers in a million ears that things are not good enough to be worth improving. If the world is good we are revolutionaries , if the world is evil we must be conservatives . These essays, futile as they are considered as serious literature, are yet ethically sincere , since they seek to remind men that things must be loved first and improved afterwards. "In Defence Of A New Edition" - Preface to the second edition (1902) In our time the blasphemies are threadbare. Pessimism is now patently, as it always was essentially, more commonplace than piety . Profanity is now more than an affectation — it is a convention. The curse against God is Exercise I in the primer of minor poetry. "Introduction" There runs a strange law through the length of human history — that men are continually tending to undervalue their environment, to undervalue their happiness, to undervalue themselves.

The great sin of mankind, the sin typified by the fall of Adam, is the tendency, not towards pride, but towards this weird and horrible humility. This is the great fall, the fall by which the fish forgets the sea, the ox forgets the meadow, the clerk forgets the city, every man forgets his environment and, in the fullest and most literal sense, forgets himself. This is the real fall of Adam, and it is a spiritual fall. It is a strange thing that many truly spiritual men, such as General Gordon , have actually spent some hours in speculating upon the precise location of the Garden of Eden. Most probably we are in Eden still. It is only our eyes that have changed. "Introduction" The pessimist is commonly spoken of as the man in revolt. He is not. Firstly, because it requires some cheerfulness to continue in revolt, and secondly, because pessimism appeals to the weaker side of everybody, and the pessimist, therefore, drives as roaring a trade as the publican. The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are.

It has been proved a hundred times over that if you really wish to enrage people and make them angry, even unto death, the right way to do it is to tell them that they are all the sons of God. "Introduction" Every one of the great revolutionists, from Isaiah to Shelley , have been optimists. They have been indignant, not about the badness of existence, but about the slowness of men in realizing its goodness. "Introduction" Let me explain a little: Certain things are bad so far as they go, such as pain, and no one, not even a lunatic, calls a tooth-ache good in itself; but a knife which cuts clumsily and with difficulty is called a bad knife, which it certainly is not. It is only not so good as other knives to which men have grown accustomed. A knife is never bad except on such rare occasions as that in which it is neatly and scientifically planted in the middle of one's back. The coarsest and bluntest knife which ever broke a pencil into pieces instead of sharpening it is a good thing in so far as it is a knife. It would have appeared a miracle in the Stone Age.

What we call a bad knife is a good knife not good enough for us; what we call a bad hat is a good hat not good enough for us; what we call bad cookery is good cookery not good enough for us; what we call a bad civilization is a good civilization not good enough for us. We choose to call the great mass of the history of mankind bad, not because it is bad, but because we are better. This is palpably an unfair principle. Ivory may not be so white as snow, but the whole Arctic continent does not make ivory black. "Introduction" Now it has appeared to me unfair that humanity should be engaged perpetually in calling all those things bad which have been good enough to make other things better, in everlastingly kicking down the ladder by which it has climbed. It has appeared to me that progress should be something else besides a continual parricide; therefore I have investigated the dust-heaps of humanity, and found a treasure in all of them. I have found that humanity is not incidentally engaged, but eternally and systematically engaged, in throwing gold into the gutter and diamonds into the sea.

"Introduction" Humility is the luxurious art of reducing ourselves to a point, not to a small thing or a large one, but to a thing with no size at all, so that to it all the cosmic things are what they really are — of immeasurable stature. The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice. Moral truisms have been so much disputed that they have begun to sparkle like so many brilliant paradoxes. "A Defence of Humilities" We all know that the 'divine glory of the ego' is socially a great nuisance; we all do actually value our friends for modesty, freshness, and simplicity of heart. Whatever may be the reason, we all do warmly respect humility — in other people. "A Defence of Humilities" There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. It is always the secure who are humble. "A Defence of Humilities" A beetle may or may not be inferior to a man — the matter awaits demonstration; but if he were inferior by ten thousand fathoms, the fact remains that there is probably a beetle view of things of which a man is entirely ignorant.

If he wishes to conceive that point of view, he will scarcely reach it by persistently revelling in the fact that he is not a beetle. "A Defence of Humilities" Humility is the luxurious art of reducing ourselves to a point, not to a small thing or a large one, but to a thing with no size at all, so that to it all the cosmic things are what they really are — of immeasurable stature. That the trees are high and the grasses short is a mere accident of our own foot-rules and our own stature. But to the spirit which has stripped off for a moment its own idle temporal standards the grass is an everlasting forest, with dragons for denizens; the stones of the road are as incredible mountains piled one upon the other; the dandelions are like gigantic bonfires illuminating the lands around; and the heath-bells on their stalks are like planets hung in heaven each higher than the other. "A Defence of Humilities" There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. Men do not quarrel about the meaning of sunsets; they never dispute that the hawthorn says the best and wittiest thing about the spring.

"A Defence of Heraldry" Heretics (1905)[ edit ] There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. It is amusing to think how much conservative ingenuity has been wasted in the defence of the House of Lords by men who were desperately endeavouring to prove that the House of Lords consisted of clever men. There is one really good defence of the House of Lords [...] and that is, that the House of Lords, in its full and proper strength, consists of stupid men. It really would be a plausible defence of that otherwise indefensible body to point out that the clever men in the Commons, who owed their power to cleverness, ought in the last resort to be checked by the average man in the Lords, who owed their power to accident. Charles Dickens (1906)[ edit ] The thing that cannot be defined is the first thing; the primary fact.

Much of our modern difficulty, in religion and other things, arises merely from this: that we confuse the word "indefinable" with the word "vague." If some one speaks of a spiritual fact as "indefinable" we promptly picture something misty, a cloud with indeterminate edges. But this is an error even in commonplace logic. The thing that cannot be defined is the first thing; the primary fact. It is our arms and legs, our pots and pans, that are indefinable. The indefinable is the indisputable. The man next door is indefinable, because he is too actual to be defined. And there are some to whom spiritual things have the same fierce and practical proximity; some to whom God is too actual to be defined. Ch 1 : "The Dickens Period" Whatever the word "great" means, Dickens was what it means. Ch 1 : "The Dickens Period" There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. Ch 1 : "The Dickens Period" America has a new delicacy, a coarse, rank refinement. Ch.

6 "Dickens and America" A sober man may become a drunkard through being a coward. A brave man may become a coward through being a drunkard. Ch. 8 "The Time of Transition" When some English moralists write about the importance of having character, they appear to mean only the importance of having a dull character. Ch. 10 "The Great Dickens Characters" A man looking at a hippopotamus may sometimes be tempted to regard a hippopotamus as an enormous mistake; but he is also bound to confess that a fortunate inferiority prevents him personally from making such mistakes. Ch. 10 "The Great Dickens Characters" All Things Considered (1908)[ edit ] It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it. "Spiritualism" A Song of Defeat (1910)[ edit ] Fully published in Poems (1917), but appearing in part in Sketches and Snapshots (1910) by George William Russell Our chiefs said 'Done,' and I did not deem it; Our seers said 'Peace,' and it was not peace; Earth will grow worse till men redeem it, And wars more evil, ere all wars cease.

Our chiefs said 'Done,' and I did not deem it; Our seers said 'Peace,' and it was not peace; Earth will grow worse till men redeem it, And wars more evil, ere all wars cease. For we that fight till the world is free, We are not easy in victory: We have known each other too long, my brother, And fought each other, the world and we. It is all as of old, the empty clangour, The NOTHING scrawled on a five-foot page, The huckster who, mocking holy anger, Painfully paints his face with rage. … If you convey to a woman that something ought to be done, there is always a dreadful danger that she will suddenly do it. The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Blue Cross If you know what a man's doing, get in front of him; but if you want to guess what he's doing keep behind him. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Blue Cross One of his hobbies was to wait for the American Shakespeare — a hobby more patient than angling.

''The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Secret Garden His head was always most valuable when he had lost it. In such moments he put two and two together and made four million. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Queer Feet Silver is sometimes more valuable than gold, that is, in large quantities. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Queer Feet Odd, isn't it, that a thief and a vagabond should repent, when so many who are rich and secure remain hard and frivolous, and without fruit for God or man? The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Queer Feet Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Flying Stars One can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Sins of Prince Saradine Very few reputations are gained by unsullied virtue.

The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Sins of Prince Saradine The things that happen here do not seem to mean anything; they mean something somewhere else. Somewhere else retribution will come on the real offender. Here it often seems to fall on the wrong person. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Sins of Prince Saradine To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it. The Innocence of Father Brown (1911) The Paradise of Thieves Journalism largely consists in saying 'Lord Jones Dead' to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive. The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914) The Purple Wig If you convey to a woman that something ought to be done, there is always a dreadful danger that she will suddenly do it. The Secret of Father Brown (1927) The Song of the Flying Fish Magic: A Fantastic Comedy (1913)[ edit ] I object to a quarrel because it always interrupts an argument.

The Victorian Age in Literature (1913)[ edit ] University of Notre Dame Press, 1963 The mind moves by instincts, associations and premonitions and not by fixed dates or completed processes. It is a quaint comment on the notion that the English are practical and the French merely visionary, that we were rebels in arts while they were rebels in arms. Ch I: The Victorian Compromise and Its Enemies (p. 8) The mind moves by instincts, associations and premonitions and not by fixed dates or completed processes. Action and reaction will occur simultaneously: or the cause actually be found after the effect. Errors will be resisted before they have been properly promulgated: notions will be first defined long after they are dead. Ch I: The Victorian Compromise and Its Enemies (p. 17) A man making the confession of any creed worth ten minutes' intelligent talk, is always a man who gains something and gives up something. So long as he does both he can create: for he is making an outline and a shape. Ch I: The Victorian Compromise and Its Enemies (p. 20) The central idea of poetry is the idea of guessing right, like a child.

Ch I: The Victorian Compromise and Its Enemies (p. 24) Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought. Ch I: The Victorian Compromise and Its Enemies ( p. 43 ) He did not know the way things were going: he was too Victorian to understand the Victorian epoch. He did not know enough ignorant people to have heard the news. On William Makepeace Thackeray Ch. II: The Great Victorian Novelists (p. 65) It is largely because the free-thinkers, as a school, have hardly made up their minds whether they want to be more optimist or more pessimist than Christianity that their small but sincere movement has failed. Ch. II: The Great Victorian Novelists (p. 73) He was, if ever there was one, an inspired poet. I do not think it the highest sort of poet. And you never discover who is an inspired poet until the inspiration goes. On Algernon Charles Swinburne Ch. III: The Great Victorian Poets (p. 95) Who Goes Home? (1914)[ edit ] Who is for victory?

It is something to be wiser than the world, It is something to be older than the sky. The Great Minimum[ edit ] Let the thunder break on man and beast and bird And the lightning. It is something to have been. It is something to have wept as we have wept, It is something to have done as we have done, It is something to have watched when all men slept, And seen the stars which never see the sun. It is something to have smelt the mystic rose, Although it break and leave the thorny rods, It is something to have hungered once as those Must hunger who have ate the bread of gods. To have seen you and your unforgotten face, Brave as a blast of trumpets for the fray, Pure as white lilies in a watery space, It were something, though you went from me today. To have known the things that from the weak are furled, Perilous ancient passions, strange and high; It is something to be wiser than the world, It is something to be older than the sky.

In a time of sceptic moths and cynic rusts, And fattened lives that of their sweetness tire In a world of flying loves and fading lusts, It is something to be sure of a desire. Lo, blessed are our ears for they have heard; Yea, blessed are our eyes for they have seen: Let the thunder break on man and beast and bird And the lightning. It is something to have been. Utopia of Usurers (1917)[ edit ] Full text online A fairly clear line separated advertisement from art. … The first effect of the triumph of the capitalist (if we allow him to triumph) will be that that line of demarcation will entirely disappear. There will be no art that might not just as well be advertisement. The big commercial concerns of to-day are quite exceptionally incompetent. They will be even more incompetent when they are omnipotent. The new community which the capitalists are now constructing will be a very complete and absolute community; and one which will tolerate nothing really independent of itself. A fairly clear line separated advertisement from art. … The first effect of the triumph of the capitalist (if we allow him to triumph) will be that that line of demarcation will entirely disappear.

There will be no art that might not just as well be advertisement. p. 6 Literary men are being employed to praise a big business man personally, as men used to praise a king. They not only find political reasons for the commercial schemes—that they have done for some time past—they also find moral defences for the commercial schemers. … I do resent the whole age of patronage being revived under such absurd patrons; and all poets becoming court poets, under kings that have taken no oath. pp. 15-17 Even the tyrant never rules by force alone; but mostly by fairy tales. And so it is with the modern tyrant, the great employer. The sight of a millionaire is seldom, in the ordinary sense, an enchanting sight: nevertheless, he is in his way an enchanter. As they say in the gushing articles about him in the magazines, he is a fascinating personality. So is a snake. At least he is fascinating to rabbits; and so is the millionaire to the rabbit-witted sort of people that ladies and gentlemen have allowed themselves to become. p. 19 The big commercial concerns of to-day are quite exceptionally incompetent. They will be even more incompetent when they are omnipotent. p.

23 Employers will give time to eat, time to sleep; they are in terror of a time to think. p. 31 The new community which the capitalists are now constructing will be a very complete and absolute community; and one which will tolerate nothing really independent of itself. pp. 33-34 In every serious doctrine of the destiny of men, there is some trace of the doctrine of the equality of men. But the capitalist really depends on some religion of inequality. The capitalist must somehow distinguish himself from human kind; he must be obviously above it—or he would be obviously below it. p. 34 Wait and see whether the religion of the Servile State is not in every case what I say: the encouragement of small virtues supporting capitalism, the discouragement of the huge virtues that defy it. p. 37 The Superstition of Divorce (1920)[ edit ] I do not ask them to assume the worth of my creed or any creed; and I could wish they did not so often ask me to assume the worth of their worthless, poisonous plutocratic modern society.

But if it could be shown, as I think it can, that a long historical view and a patient political experience can at last accumulate solid scientific evidence of the vital need of such a vow, then I can conceive no more tremendous tribute than this, to any faith, which made a flaming affirmation from the darkest beginnings, of what the latest enlightenment can only slowly discover in the end. Say that a thing is so, according to the Pope or the Bible, and it will be dismissed as a superstition without examination. But preface your remark merely with "they say" or "don't you know that?" or try (and fail) to remember the name of some professor mentioned in some newspaper; and the keen rationalism of the modern mind will accept every word you say. What I Saw in America (1922)[ edit ] There is truth in every ancient fable, and there is here even something of it in the fancy that finds the symbol of the Republic in the bird that bore the bolts of Jove. "The Future of Democracy" There is truth in every ancient fable, and there is here even something of it in the fancy that finds the symbol of the Republic in the bird that bore the bolts of Jove.

Owls and bats may wander where they will in darkness, and for them as for the sceptics the universe may have no centre; kites and vultures may linger as they like over carrion, and for them as for the plutocrats existence may have no origin and no end; but it was far back in the land of legends, where instincts find their true images, that the cry went forth that freedom is an eagle, whose glory is gazing at the sun. "The Future of Democracy" Eugenics and Other Evils (1922)[ edit ] The thing that really is trying to tyrannize through government is Science . The thing that really does use the secular arm is Science. And the creed that really is levying tithes and capturing schools, the creed that really is enforced by fine and imprisonment, the creed that really is proclaimed not in sermons but in statutes, and spread not by pilgrims but by policemen – that creed is the great but disputed system of thought which began with Evolution and has ended in Eugenics . Materialism is really our established Church ; for the Government will really help it to persecute its heretics . Ch. VII: "The Established Church of Doubt" (pp.

76-77). [1] Dale Ahlquist , president and co-founder of the American Chesterton Society, commenting of this passage writes: " Eugenics is also about the tyranny of science. Forget the tired old argument about religion persecuting science. Chesterton points out the obvious fact that in the modern world , it is the quite the other way around." [ Lecture 36: Eugenics and Other Evils ] Letters on Polish Affairs (1922)[ edit ] I judged the Poles by their enemies. And I found it was an almost unfailing- truth that their enemies were the enemies of magna- nimity and manhood. If a man loved slavery, if he loved usury, if he loved terrorism and all the trampled mire of materialistic politics, I have always found that he added to these affections the passion of a hatred of Poland. She could be judged in the light of that hatred; and the judgment has proved to be right. [2] The Everlasting Man (1925)[ edit ] About sex especially men are born unbalanced; we might almost say men are born mad. They scarcely reach sanity till they reach sanctity.

If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep. The Dagger with Wings (1926)[ edit ] We are talking about an artist; and for the enjoyment of the artist the mask must be to some extent moulded on the face. What he makes outside him must correspond to something inside him; he can only make his effects out of some of the materials of his soul. All things are from God; and above all, reason and imagination and the great gifts of the mind. They are good in themselves; and we must not altogether forget their origin even in their perversion. An artist will betray himself by some sort of sincerity. You have no business to be an unbeliever. You ought to stand for all the things these stupid people call superstitions.

Come now, don't you think there's a lot in those old wives' tales about luck and charms and so on, silver bullets included? What do you say about them as a Catholic?' 'I say I'm an agnostic,' replied Father Brown, smiling. 'Nonsense,' said Aylmer impatiently. 'It's your business to believe things.' 'Well, I do believe some things, of course,' conceded Father Brown; 'and therefore, of course, I don't believe other things.' . 'You do believe it,' he said. 'You do believe everything. We all believe everything, even when we deny everything. The denyers believe. The unbelievers believe. Don't you feel in your heart that these contradictions do not really contradict: that there is a cosmos that contains them all? The soul goes round upon a wheel of stars and all things return; perhaps Strake and I have striven in many shapes, beast against beast and bird against bird, and perhaps we shall strive for ever. But since we seek and need each other, even that eternal hatred is an eternal love. Good and evil go round in a wheel that is one thing and not many.

Do you not realize in your heart, do you not believe behind all your beliefs, that there is but one reality and we are its shadows; and that all things are but aspects of one thing: a centre where men melt into Man and Man into God?' 'No,' said Father Brown. He had the notion that because I am a clergyman I should believe anything. Many people have little notions of that kind. All things are from God; and above all, reason and imagination and the great gifts of the mind. They are good in themselves; and we must not altogether forget their origin even in their perversion. 'I'm afraid I'm a practical man,' said the doctor with gruff humour, 'and I don't bother much about religion and philosophy.' 'You'll never be a practical man till you do,' said Father Brown. 'Look here, doctor; you know me pretty well; I think you know I'm not a bigot. You know I know there are all sorts in all religions; good men in bad ones and bad men in good ones. Yet he is right enough about there being a white magic, if he only knows where to look for it.

The Thing (1929)[ edit ] The Thing : Why I Am A Catholic (1929) In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it." This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street.

Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease. But the truth is that nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, or that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion. Ch. IV : The Drift From Domesticity Misattributed[ edit ] An open mind is really a mark of foolishness, like an open mouth.

Mouths and minds were made to shut; they were made to open only in order to shut. Original quote: For my friend said that he opened his intellect as the sun opens the fans of a palm tree, opening for opening's sake, opening infinitely for ever. But I said that I opened my intellect as I opened my mouth, in order to shut it again on something solid. I was doing it at the moment. And as I truly pointed out, it would look uncommonly silly if I went on opening my mouth infinitely, for ever and ever. The Extraordinary Cabman, one of many essays collected in Tremendous Trifles (1909) When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing — they believe in anything. This quotation actually comes from page 211 of Émile Cammaerts ' book The Laughing Prophet : The Seven Virtues and G. K.

Chesterton (1937) in which he quotes Chesterton as having Father Brown say, in "The Oracle of the Dog" (1923): "It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense." Cammaerts then interposes his own analysis between further quotes from Father Brown: "'It's drowning all your old rationalism and scepticism, it's coming in like a sea; and the name of it is superstition.' The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything: 'And a dog is an omen and a cat is a mystery.'" Note that the remark about believing in anything is outside the quotation marks — it is Cammaerts. The correct attribution was reportedly first traced by Pasquale Accardo. It was also credited to Nigel Rees (as cited in First Things, 1997). A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.

Though sometimes misattributed to Chesterton, this is generally attributed to Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield , with the first publication of this yet located is in a section of proverbs called "Diamond Dust" in Eliza Cook 's Journal, No. 98 (15 March 1851), with the first attribution to Chesterfield as yet located in: Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1862) edited by Henry Southgate. Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up. According to The American Chesterton Society , this quotation is actually a paraphrase by John F. Kennedy of a passage from The Thing (1929) in which Chesterton made reference to a fence or gate erected across a road: "The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think.

Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it." Q: What's wrong with the world? A: I am. Purportedly a response by Chesterton to the question posed around 1910 by the The Times of London (along with other luminaries), but biographer Kevin Belmonte, in 'Defiant Joy: the Remarkable Life & Impact of G.K. Chesterton', was unable to verify. Belmonte surmises its origin in an anecdote that while writing What's Wrong with the World (told in the book's preface), he would delight in telling society ladies that "I have been doing 'What is Wrong' all this morning." [2] And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow. A popular internet misattribution.[ citation needed ] A number of variants of the "rain on your parade" theme appear, with different sources A man knocking on the door of a brothel is looking for God.

The source is actually a 1945 book by Bruce Marshall, The World, The Flesh, and Father Smith, in which he says, "...the young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God." Quotes about Chesterton[ edit ] In its fundamental conception, as well as in many of the significant details of its working out, Lord of the Rings is heavily indebted to G. K. Chesterton's now little read poem of 1911, The Ballad of the White Horse . ~ Cristopher Clausen Like Lord of the Rings, Chesterton's poem is set in a heroic society after the decay of a highly civilized imperial power … King Alfred , its hero , like Tolkien 's Aragorn, is an idealized heroic figure who roams around in humble disguise and is sometimes mistreated by the ignorant. ~ Cristopher Clausen The authors would like to join the demon Crowley in dedicating this book to the memory of G. K. Chesterton. A man who knew what was going on.

~ Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett Behind every Chesterton sentence there was someone painting with words , and it seemed to me that at the end of any particularly good sentence or any perfectly-put paradox , you could hear the author, somewhere behind the scenes, giggling with delight . ~ Neil Gaiman The insistence of the Christian doctrine on man’s limited condition was somehow enough of a philosophy to allow it’s adherents a very deep insight into the essential inhumanity of all those modern attempts – psychological, technical, biological – to change man into the monster of superman. They realized that a pursuit of happiness which actually means to wipe away all tears will pretty quickly end by wiping out all laughter . It was again Christianity which taught them that nothing human can exist beyond tears and laughter, except the silence of despair . Hannah Arendt , commenting on Chesterton and Charles Péguy in “Christianity and Revolution”, in Hannah Arendt, Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954 (1994), edited by Jerome Kohn, p. 154 Mr Chesterton was not mistaken in his vocation when he set out to write stories.

He is a born story-teller, which is quite a different thing from being a born novelist. The old trade of story-telling is, as he himself has said, a much older thing than the modern art of fiction. The Oriental who spread his carpet in the marketplace, the medieval bard who sang a ballad at his master's feast, made no appeal to that curiosity about the varieties of the human soul which is increasingly the inspiration of the modern novel. If he touched on human psychology at all he dealt only with those primal passions and desires which are common to all normal men. But, for the interest of his art, he depended simply upon his capacity to tell a good story, and to tell it well. In the last resort, Mr. Chesterton's novels depend for their interest on the same power. g.k.

chesterton | Reason To Stand Reason To Stand Posted on March 9, 2011 by Wes Widner | 29123 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Freasontostand.org%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F09%2Fbook-review-defiant-joy-the-remarkable-life-impact-of-g-k-chesterton-by-kevin-belmonteBook+review%3A+Defiant+Joy%3A+The+Remarkable+Life+%26+Impact+of+G.K.+Chesterton+by+Kevin+Belmonte2011-03-09+12%3A00%3A36Wes+Widnerhttp%3A%2F%2Freasontostand.org%2F%3Fp%3D2912 I’ve been fascinated with Gilbert Keith Chesterton for quite a while. But the most I’d known of him before now had been his memorable quotations.

So when I signed up to review books through BookSneeze.com , I jumped at the chance to review Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life & Impact of G.K. Chesterton by Kevin Belmonte. Kevin does a good job of providing a high-level overview of GK Chesterton though a survey of his works. The book begins with a telescopic view of Chesterton’s family and early life and quickly moves into G.K.’s literary career. Kevin uses the timeline of Chesterton’s life to introduce us to Chesterton’s work which he quotes from at length. And his contemporaries, which he also quotes from at length. Kevin also paints a compelling portrait of a devout Christian who thoughtfully and respectfully engaged some of Christianity’s most ardent critics like George Bernard Shaw and H.L. Mencken. Kevin describes how Gilbert Keith Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw were at once close friends and bitter ideological opponents. We are given a glimpse of this complex relationship through Kevin’s liberal use of primary sources like letters between the two over the course of Chesterton’s life. Kevin does a good job of introducing us to some of Chesterton’s more influential works.

This is achieved, though, through copious use of block quotations which make the book a chore to read. By the end of the book I was inspired to read some of Chesterton’s works in full on my own, and felt as though I already had read much of them from the number and size of quotations Kevin uses. I was also inspired to find additional resources featuring Chesterton’s work, like the Orson Welles production of The Man Who Was Thursday. Overall I wouldn’t consider this book to be the easiest in the world to read. Or the best when it comes to depth of research. At best it is a Frankenstein of other works. I’m not sure if I would recommend this book to anyone, even a Chesterton novice like myself. To have a right to do a thing by G. K. Chesterton To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it. - Gilbert (G. K.) Chesterton Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly . - Gilbert (G. K.) Chesterton The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they happen . - Gilbert (G. K.) Chesterton The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost .

- Gilbert (G. K.) Chesterton Please sign-up for my Free Inspirational Daily Email on the form below. Sign-up for your free subscription to my Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote email. Your E-Mail Address: Your Name: To confirm your subscription, you must click on a link in the email being sent to you. Each email contains an unsubscribe link. We will NEVER sell, rent, loan, or abuse your email address in ANY way. determines how long it will be until you win . - Gilbert (G. K.) Chesterton We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbor. - Gilbert (G. K.) Chesterton Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. - Ralph Waldo Emerson When people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Would you rather be right or happy? - A Course in Miracles If it's Right, stand up for it - together.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie Those who believe they can do something and those who believe they can't are both right. "Hurry up" ranks right up there with "you need to" as a destroyer of our humanity. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right. - Max Lucado Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else. - Epictetus You can choose to be peaceful right here and now ... it has nothing to do with what other people do or think. - Gerald Jampolsky Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there. - Rumi May your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, never in want. - Irish Blessing I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. - Marilyn Monroe Do what you feel in your heart to be right. You'll be criticized anyway.

All in the dark we grope along, And if we go amiss We learn at least which path is wrong, And there is gain in this. We do not always win the race By only running right; We have to tread the mountain's base Before we reach its height. - Ella Wheeler Wilcox Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing. - Tony Blair You only live once, and once is enough if you play your cards right. - the movie Interiors (1978) Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. - Peter T. Mcintyre That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing. - Martin Luther King, Jr. It is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right. - William J. H. Boetcker Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right?

And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it BECAUSE it is right. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it. - Helen Keller but if you work it right, once is enough. - Joe E. Lewis Do you prefer that you be right or happy? - A Course in Miracles Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong. - Winston Churchill Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. - Thomas Jefferson That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong. - William J. H. Boetcker It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. - Henry David Thoreau Your big opportunity may be right where you are now. - Napoleon Hill No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving something behind.

- George Washington Carver There is no labor a person does that is undignified; if they do it right. - Bill Cosby I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. - Abraham Lincoln If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're probably right. Freedom is the right to live as we wish. - Epictetus The right mixture of caring and not caring - I suppose that's what love is. - James Hilton The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it. - Norman Schwarzkoff We can always choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right. - Marianne Williamson Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. - Isaac Asimov We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. - Nelson Mandela The time is always right to do what is right. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Courage is not always about action, and it doesn't always involve danger, but courage is always doing what is right. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Understand that the right to choose your own path The right to do something doesn't mean that doing it is right. - William Safire It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right. - Winston Churchill Let's have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it. - Abraham Lincoln Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one. - Eleanor Roosevelt All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination. - Carl Jung and it leads me along the Right Path. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you're knocked down, get right back up. And never listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on. - Hilary Clinton The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.

- Chinese proverb One of the surest ways to cause yourself great suffering is to insist upon being right - to demand that all others view life exactly as you view it. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous; there's really nothing to lose. There's no wrong you can't make right again, so be kinder to yourself; have fun, take chances. There are no bounds. - Jewel Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago? Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them turn out all right after all? - Dale Carnegie There is no "right", there is no "wrong" - there are only points of view. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything. - Win Borden Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker Like a Cat, I am Independent, Patient, Alert, and Decisive. When the time is right, I pounce on opportunity.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie We like a man to come right out and say what he thinks- if we agree with him. - Mark Twain Nothing is more valuable than your self respect. When you lose respect for yourself, you have lost everything. Whatever it takes, and whoever you upset, do what you know - deep inside - is the right thing. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands. - Anne Frank I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong. - John Lennon I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

- Abraham Lincoln Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong. - Abraham Lincoln Thank you for visiting these To have a right to do a thing by G. K. Chesterton. Please sign up on the form below to receive my Free Daily Inspiration - Daily Quotes email. May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Question: For what does the G stand in G. K. Chesterton?
Answer: Gilbert