Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

Americans have a taste for…rocking-chairs. A flippant critic might suggest that they select rocking-chairs so that, even when they are sitting down, they need not be sitting still. Something of this restlessness in the race may really be involved in the matter; but I think the deeper significance of the rocking-chair may still be found in the deeper symbolism of the rocking-horse. I think there is behind all this fresh and facile use of wood a certain spirit that is childish in the good sense of the word; something that is innocent, and easily pleased.

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Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Horse Quotes , Thinking Quotes

Every sane man recognises that unlimited liberty is anarchy, or rather is nonentity. The civic idea of liberty is to give the citizen a province of liberty; a limitation within which a citizen is a king.

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The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.

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Science boasts of the distance of its stars; of the terrific remoteness of the things of which it has to speak. But poetry and religion always insist upon the proximity, the almost menacing closeness of the things with which they are concerned. Always the Kingdom of Heaven is "At Hand."

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Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Stars Quotes , Distance Quotes

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.

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Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Baby Quotes , Children Quotes

The man who lives in a small community lives in a much larger world... The reason is obvious. In a large community we can choose our companions. In a small community our companions are chosen for us.

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One can hardly think too little of one's self. One can hardly think too much of one's soul.

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Were Patrick Henry to return to earth and look around on the vast economic order of the day, he might revise his observation and merely say ‘Give me death’-the alternative being manifestly impossible under modern conditions.

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In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.

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The poor complain that they are governed badly. The rich complain that they are governed at all.

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If a man says that he is Jesus Christ, it is no answer to tell him that the world denies his divinity; for the world denied Christ's.

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Not only does "orthodox" no longer mean being right, it practically means being wrong.

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In a world flagrant with the failures of civilization, what is there particularly immortal about our own?

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I would never commit the positively anti-social action of robbing a bank, or worse still, working in one.

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Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Action Quotes , Social Quotes

Destiny is but a phrase of the weak human heart - the dark apology for every error. The strong and virtuous admit no destiny. On earth conscience guides; in heaven God watches. And destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one and dethrone the other.

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Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Strong Quotes , Heart Quotes

Be careful how you suggest things to me. For there is in me a madness which goes beyond martyrdom, the madness of an utterly idle man.

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Powerful men who have powerful passions use much of their strength in forging chains for themselves.

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A large section of the intelligentsia seems wholly devoid of intelligence.

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"Are you a devil?" "I am a man," answered Father Brown gravely; "and therefore have all devils in my heart."

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If you do not understand a man you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.

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Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Crush Quotes , Men Quotes