G. K. Chesterton Quotes

Most popular G. K. Chesterton Quotes

Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy.
— G. K. Chesterton

parenting children Adulthood

A yawn is a silent shout. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A yawn is a silent shout.
— G. K. Chesterton Infinite Riches: Gems from a Lifetime of Reading
Art is the signature of man. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Art is the signature of man.

art

Silence is the unbearable repartee. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Silence is the unbearable repartee.

silence

Progress is the mother of Problems. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Progress is the mother of Problems.

progress

Materialists and madmen never have doubts. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Materialists and madmen never have doubts.
— G. K. Chesterton

confidence

The true object of all human life is play. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The true object of all human life is play.
— G. K. Chesterton
All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor poetry. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor poetry.

slang

Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution.
— G. K. Chesterton

psychology

If there were no God, there would be no Atheists. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.
— G. K. Chesterton

God atheist

All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry.

metaphor

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

arguments quarrels

I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles.
— G. K. Chesterton Reader’s Digest

golf

Truths turn into dogmas the moment they are disputed. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Truths turn into dogmas the moment they are disputed.
— G. K. Chesterton
It is easy to be solemn, it is so hard to be frivolous. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
It is easy to be solemn, it is so hard to be frivolous.
— G. K. Chesterton
I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
— G. K. Chesterton

adversity

Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.
— G. K. Chesterton

funny

Artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs.
— G. K. Chesterton

artists

Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.
— G. K. Chesterton

art

The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.
— G. K. Chesterton
A paradox is a truth standing on its head to gain attention. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A paradox is a truth standing on its head to gain attention.
— G. K. Chesterton

truth paradox

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

cheese

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.
— G. K. Chesterton

imagination

Research is the search of people who don't know what they want. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Research is the search of people who don't know what they want.

research

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.
— G. K. Chesterton

religion

Ingratitude is surely the chief of the intellectual sins of man. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Ingratitude is surely the chief of the intellectual sins of man.

ingratitude

It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.
— G. K. Chesterton

religion

To say that a man is an idealist is merely to say that he is a man. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
To say that a man is an idealist is merely to say that he is a man.
— G. K. Chesterton

idealist

A great classic means a man whom one can praise without having read. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A great classic means a man whom one can praise without having read.

classics

The world will never starve for wonder; but only for want of wonder. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The world will never starve for wonder; but only for want of wonder.
— G. K. Chesterton
The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.
— G. K. Chesterton

confidence

Happiness is a mystery like religion, and should never be rationalized. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Happiness is a mystery like religion, and should never be rationalized.
— G. K. Chesterton

happiness

A woman uses her intelligence to find reasons to support her intuition. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A woman uses her intelligence to find reasons to support her intuition.
— G. K. Chesterton

intelligence

A figure of speech can often get into a crack too small for a definition. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A figure of speech can often get into a crack too small for a definition.

figurative language

Paradox has been defined as "Truth standing on her head to get attention." - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Paradox has been defined as "Truth standing on her head to get attention."

paradox

One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time.
— G. K. Chesterton

time patience

Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall be gloriously surprised. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall be gloriously surprised.

expectation

A businessman is the only man who is forever apologizing for his occupation. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A businessman is the only man who is forever apologizing for his occupation.
— G. K. Chesterton

work

Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it.
— G. K. Chesterton T. P.’s Weekly

wit

A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things.
— G. K. Chesterton in The New York Times

indignation

The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.

wonder

Grey is a color that always seems on the eve of changing to some other color. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Grey is a color that always seems on the eve of changing to some other color.
Tradition does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Tradition does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive.
— G. K. Chesterton
When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it.

experience

You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.
— G. K. Chesterton

truth reason

To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
— G. K. Chesterton

morals

It seems a pity that psychology has destroyed all our knowledge of human nature. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
It seems a pity that psychology has destroyed all our knowledge of human nature.
— G. K. Chesterton The Observer

psychology

There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect.
— G. K. Chesterton

persuasion

There is but an inch of difference between a cushioned chamber and a padded cell. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There is but an inch of difference between a cushioned chamber and a padded cell.
— G. K. Chesterton

insanity

Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.
— G. K. Chesterton

art

A man is angry at a libel because it is false, but at a satire because it is true. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A man is angry at a libel because it is false, but at a satire because it is true.

satire

The mere brute pleasure of reading—the sort of pleasure a cow must have in grazing. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The mere brute pleasure of reading—the sort of pleasure a cow must have in grazing.
— G. K. Chesterton G. K. Chesterton

reading

What embitters the world is not excess of criticism, but absence of self-criticism. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
What embitters the world is not excess of criticism, but absence of self-criticism.
— G. K. Chesterton Sidelights on New London and Newer New York

criticism

Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate.

hope

Adventure is the champagne of life, but I prefer my adventures and my champagne dry. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Adventure is the champagne of life, but I prefer my adventures and my champagne dry.

adventure

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
— G. K. Chesterton The Observer

education

We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.
— G. K. Chesterton

brotherhood of man

The repetition in nature may not be a mere recurrence. It may be a theatrical "encore." - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The repetition in nature may not be a mere recurrence. It may be a theatrical "encore."
— G. K. Chesterton

nature

Briefly, you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Briefly, you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.
— G. K. Chesterton

truth logic

Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.
— G. K. Chesterton

helping others

One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.

the self ego

One may understand the cosmos, but never the self; the self is more distant than any star. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
One may understand the cosmos, but never the self; the self is more distant than any star.
— G. K. Chesterton
The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.
— G. K. Chesterton

virtue

Is ditchwater dull? Naturalists with microscopes have told me that it teems with quiet fun. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Is ditchwater dull? Naturalists with microscopes have told me that it teems with quiet fun.
— G. K. Chesterton

science

The true object of all human life is play.  Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The true object of all human life is play.  Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.

play

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.
— G. K. Chesterton

religion

Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.
— G. K. Chesterton

funny education

If prosperity is regarded as the reward of virtue it will be regarded as the symptom of virtue. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
If prosperity is regarded as the reward of virtue it will be regarded as the symptom of virtue.

prosperity virtue

Most Americans...have a sort of permanent intoxication from within, a sort of invisible champagne. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Most Americans...have a sort of permanent intoxication from within, a sort of invisible champagne.
— G. K. Chesterton in The New York Times

America

The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.

courage

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

books novels

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year, it is that we should have a new soul. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year, it is that we should have a new soul.

new year

There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner.
— G. K. Chesterton

hope

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.
— G. K. Chesterton

democracy

An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
— G. K. Chesterton

adventure comfort

Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.

bravery

Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive.
— G. K. Chesterton

tradition

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

gratitude thankfulness

When giving treats to friends or children, give them what they like, emphatically not what is good for them. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
When giving treats to friends or children, give them what they like, emphatically not what is good for them.
— G. K. Chesterton The New Age

gift

An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.
— G. K. Chesterton

adventure

Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.
— G. K. Chesterton

history fiction

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes—our ancestors.  It is the democracy of the dead. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes—our ancestors.  It is the democracy of the dead.

tradition

There is more simplicity in the man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats Grape Nuts on principle. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There is more simplicity in the man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats Grape Nuts on principle.
— G. K. Chesterton

character

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.  An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.  An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.

adventure

The most important things are always said by signs. If people do not understand signs they will never understand words. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The most important things are always said by signs. If people do not understand signs they will never understand words.
— G. K. Chesterton

speech body language

Betting and such sports are only the stunted and twisted shapes of the original instinct of man for adventure and romance. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Betting and such sports are only the stunted and twisted shapes of the original instinct of man for adventure and romance.

gambling

The home is not the one tame place in the world of adventure. It is the one wild place in the world of rules and set tasks. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The home is not the one tame place in the world of adventure. It is the one wild place in the world of rules and set tasks.
— G. K. Chesterton

home

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.
— G. K. Chesterton

funny

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
— G. K. Chesterton

action fate

If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post.

change

In the end it will not matter to us whether we fought with flails or reeds. It will matter to us greatly on what side we fought. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
In the end it will not matter to us whether we fought with flails or reeds. It will matter to us greatly on what side we fought.
— G. K. Chesterton

principles

I do not believe in a fate that falls on people however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on people however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
— G. K. Chesterton
The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.

Travel

The man who sees the consistency in things is a wit— and a Calvinist. The man who sees the inconsistency in things is a humorist. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The man who sees the consistency in things is a wit— and a Calvinist. The man who sees the inconsistency in things is a humorist.
— G. K. Chesterton

humor

The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind.
— G. K. Chesterton

health

A great deal of contemporary criticism reads to me like a man saying: "Of course I do not like green cheese; I am very fond of brown sherry." - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A great deal of contemporary criticism reads to me like a man saying: "Of course I do not like green cheese; I am very fond of brown sherry."

criticism

The trouble about always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The trouble about always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind.

health

The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us.

progress growth

There is something to be said for every error; but, whatever may be said for it, the most important thing to be said about it is that it is erroneous. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There is something to be said for every error; but, whatever may be said for it, the most important thing to be said about it is that it is erroneous.

error

"My country, right or wrong" is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case.  It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober." - G. K. Chesterton quote.
"My country, right or wrong" is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case.  It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."

nationalism patriotism

The first fact about the celebration of a birthday is that it is a way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The first fact about the celebration of a birthday is that it is a way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive.

birthday

Charity is the power of defending that which we know to be indefensible. Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Charity is the power of defending that which we know to be indefensible. Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate.
— G. K. Chesterton

charity

Evil always wins through the strength of its splendid dupes; and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Evil always wins through the strength of its splendid dupes; and there has in all ages been a disastrous alliance between abnormal innocence and abnormal sin.

evil dupes innocence

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.

compromise

The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.

appreciation

A stiff apology is a second insult... The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
A stiff apology is a second insult... The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.
— G. K. Chesterton

apologies

I distrust Great Men.  They produce a desert of uniformity around them and often a pool of blood too, and I always feel a little man's pleasure when they come a cropper. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
I distrust Great Men.  They produce a desert of uniformity around them and often a pool of blood too, and I always feel a little man's pleasure when they come a cropper.
— G. K. Chesterton Two Cheers for Democracy

greatness

Man does not live on soap alone; and hygiene, or even health, is not much good unless you can take a healthy view of it—or, better still, feel a healthy indifference to it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Man does not live on soap alone; and hygiene, or even health, is not much good unless you can take a healthy view of it—or, better still, feel a healthy indifference to it.

health

Man does not live by soap alone; and hygiene, or even health, is not much good unless you can take a healthy view of it or, better still, feel a healthy indifference to it. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Man does not live by soap alone; and hygiene, or even health, is not much good unless you can take a healthy view of it or, better still, feel a healthy indifference to it.
— G. K. Chesterton

health

We are justified in enforcing good morals, for they belong to all mankind; but we are not justified in enforcing good manners, for good manners always mean our own manners. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
We are justified in enforcing good morals, for they belong to all mankind; but we are not justified in enforcing good manners, for good manners always mean our own manners.

morals manners

The power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration comes to the middle-aged.  God has kept that good wine until now. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration comes to the middle-aged.  God has kept that good wine until now.

middle age

The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in fairy books, 'charm,' 'spell,' 'enchantment.' They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in fairy books, 'charm,' 'spell,' 'enchantment.' They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery.
— G. K. Chesterton
There are two kinds of people in the world: the conscious dogmatists and the unconscious dogmatists.  I have always found myself that the unconscious dogmatists were by far the most dogmatic. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There are two kinds of people in the world: the conscious dogmatists and the unconscious dogmatists.  I have always found myself that the unconscious dogmatists were by far the most dogmatic.

dogma

The real difficulty of man is not to enjoy lamp-posts or landscapes, not to enjoy dandelions or chops, but to enjoy enjoyment.  That is the practical problem which the philosopher has to solve. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The real difficulty of man is not to enjoy lamp-posts or landscapes, not to enjoy dandelions or chops, but to enjoy enjoyment.  That is the practical problem which the philosopher has to solve.

enjoyment

He thought that the object of opening the mind is simply opening the mind.  Whereas I am incurable convinced that the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
He thought that the object of opening the mind is simply opening the mind.  Whereas I am incurable convinced that the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

mind

There are dark and morbid moods in which I am tempted to feel that Evil re-entered the world in the form of Essays.  The Essay is like the Serpent, smooth and graceful and easy of movement, also wavering and wandering. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There are dark and morbid moods in which I am tempted to feel that Evil re-entered the world in the form of Essays.  The Essay is like the Serpent, smooth and graceful and easy of movement, also wavering and wandering.

essays

The two things that nearly all of us have thoroughly and really been through are childhood and youth.  And though we would not have them back again on any account, we feel that they are both beautiful, because we have drunk them dry. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
The two things that nearly all of us have thoroughly and really been through are childhood and youth.  And though we would not have them back again on any account, we feel that they are both beautiful, because we have drunk them dry.

youth childhood

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. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
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.

intellect

Laughter has something in it in common with the ancient winds of faith and inspiration; it unfreezes pride and unwinds secrecy; it makes men forget themselves in the presence of something greater than themselves; something . . . that they cannot resist. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
Laughter has something in it in common with the ancient winds of faith and inspiration; it unfreezes pride and unwinds secrecy; it makes men forget themselves in the presence of something greater than themselves; something . . . that they cannot resist.

laughter

For us who live in cities Nature is not natural. Nature is supernatural. Just as monks watched and strove to get a glimpse of heaven, so we watch and strive to get a glimpse of earth. It is as if men had cake and wine every day but were sometimes allowed common bread. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
For us who live in cities Nature is not natural. Nature is supernatural. Just as monks watched and strove to get a glimpse of heaven, so we watch and strive to get a glimpse of earth. It is as if men had cake and wine every day but were sometimes allowed common bread.
— G. K. Chesterton

nature

There is no perfectly epicurean corner; there is no perfectly irresponsible place. Everywhere men have made the way for us with sweat and submission. We may fling ourselves into a hammock in a fit of divine carelessness. But we are glad that the netmaker did not make the hammock in a fit of divine carelessness. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
There is no perfectly epicurean corner; there is no perfectly irresponsible place. Everywhere men have made the way for us with sweat and submission. We may fling ourselves into a hammock in a fit of divine carelessness. But we are glad that the netmaker did not make the hammock in a fit of divine carelessness.
— G. K. Chesterton

quality

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. - G. K. Chesterton quote.
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.
Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalized.

happiness

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
— G. K. Chesterton

attitude

A stiff apology is a second insult....  The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.

apologies