Gilbert K. Chesterton
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG, better known as G. K. Chesterton, was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox." Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth29 May 1874
powerful passion men
Powerful men who have powerful passions use much of their strength in forging chains for themselves.
simplicity world modern
The modern world... has no notion except that of simplifying something by destroying nearly everything.
silence modern tyranny
Modern toleration is really a tyranny. It is a tyranny because it is a silence.
black-and-white two phrases
They have invented a phrase, a phrase that is a black and white contradiction in two words - 'free-love' - as if a lover ever had been, or ever could be, free.
men boys never-quit
A man can never quite understand a boy, even when he has been a boy.
philosophy cat thinking
...But nature does not say that cats are more valuable than mice; nature makes no remark on the subject. She does not even say that the cat is enviable or the mouse pitiable. We think the cat superior because we have (or most of us have) a particular philosophy to the effect that life is better than death. But if the mouse were a German pessimist mouse, he might not think that the cat had beaten him at all. He might think he had beaten the cat by getting to the grave first.
men becoming mass
The Mass is not only about God becoming man, it is about Man becoming more himself.
mistake ideas nine
Nine out of ten of what we call new ideas are simply old mistakes.
monday philosophy believe
An imbecile habit has arisen in modern controversy of saying that such and such a creed can be held in one age but cannot be held in another. Some dogma, we are told, was credible in the twelfth century, but is not credible in the twentieth. You might as well say that a certain philosophy can be believed on Mondays, but cannot be believed on Tuesdays. You might as well say of a view of the cosmos that it was suitable to half-past three, but not suitable to half-past four. What a man can believe depends upon his philosophy, not upon the clock or the century.
adventure dry champagne
Adventure is the champagne of life, but I prefer my champagne and my adventures dry.
luxury honor halls
Honour is a luxury for aristocrats, but it is a necessity for hall-porters.
sea dust humanity
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.
life lying waiting
Life is not an illogicality; yet it is a trap for logicians. It looks just a little more mathematical and regular than it is; its exactitude is obvious, but its inexactitude is hidden; its wildness lies in wait.
men mythology myth
He who has no sympathy with myths has no sympathy with men