Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

The man of the true religious tradition understands two things: liberty and obedience. The first means knowing what you really want. The second means knowing what you really trust.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Religious Quotes , Mean Quotes

There have been household gods and household saints and household fairies. I am not sure that there have yet been any factory gods or factory saints or factory fairies. I may be wrong, as I am no commericial expert, but I have not heard of them as yet.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Saint Quotes , Culture Quotes

Every act of will is an act of self-limitation. To desire action is to desire limitation. In that sense, every act is an act of self-sacrifice. When you choose anything, you reject everything else.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Sacrifice Quotes , Self Quotes

In all legends men have thought of women as sublime separately but horrible in a herd.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion. To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Exercise Quotes , Sea Quotes

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.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Nice Quotes , People Quotes

In the modern conflict between the Smile and the Laugh, I am all in favor of laughing. The recent stage of culture and criticism might very well be summed up as the men who smile criticizing the men who laugh.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

Saint George he was for England, And before he killed the dragon he drank a pint of English ale out of an English flagon.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Beer Quotes , Dragons Quotes

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Funny Quotes , Respect Quotes

Silence is the unbearable repartee.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Silence Quotes , Unbearable Quotes

Some of the most frantic lies on the face of life are told with modesty and restraint; for the simple reason that only modesty and restraint will save them.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Lying Quotes , Simple Quotes

Truth can understand error, but error cannot understand truth.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

It is quite easy to see why a legend is treated, and ought to be treated, more respectfully than a book of history. The legend is generally made by the majority of people in the village, who are sane. The book is generally written by the one man in the village who is mad.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Laughing Quotes , Violence Quotes

children are simply human beings who are allowed to do what everyone else really desires to do, as for instance, to fly kites, or when seriously wronged to emit prolonged screams for several minutes.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

A nation is not going mad when it does extravagant things, so long as it does them in an extravagant spirit. But whenever we see things done wildly, but taken tamely, then the State is growing insane.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Taken Quotes , Long Quotes

Boys like romantic [fairy] tales; but babies like realistic tales - because they find them romantic...This proves that even nursery tales only echo an almost prenatal leap of interest and amazement. These tales say that apples were golden only to refresh the forgotten moment when we found that they were green. They make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run with water.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

He said he didn't very well understand how George was going to sleep any more than he did now, seeing that there were only twenty-four hours in each day.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Funny Quotes , Time Quotes

When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Love Quotes , Experience Quotes

Morality did not begin by one man saying to another, "I will not hit you if you do not hit me"; there is no trace of such a transaction. There IS a trace of both men having said, "We must not hit each other in the holy place.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes , Men Quotes , Holy Places Quotes