“The joke is generally in the oddest way the truth and yet not the fact.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“And the second as an old man might say it about the weather; not without sincerity but certainly without fervour.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“We are in the presence of a thousand lies all pointing with their fantastic fingers to one undiscovered truth.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“When a man really tells the truth, the first truth he tells is that he himself is a liar.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“In truth it is inequality that is the illusion. The extreme disproportion between men, that we seem to see in life, is… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“No man ought to write at all, or even to speak at all, unless he thinks that he is in truth and… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“We cannot teach citizenship if we are not citizens; we cannot free others if we have forgotten the appetite of freedom. Education… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“The things said most confidently by advanced persons to crowded audiences are generally those opposite to the fact; it is actually our… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“There are degrees of seriousness," replied Syme. "I have never doubted that you were perfectly sincere in this sense, that you thought… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Thus, all sane moralists admit that one may sometimes tell a lie; but no sane moralist would approve of telling a little… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Rossetti makes the remark somewhere, bitterly but with great truth, that the worst moment for the atheist is when he is really… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“But the truth is that there is no more conscious inconsistency between the humility of a Christian and the rapacity of a… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“It may be incredible that one creed is the truth and the others are relatively false. At the same time, it is… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“My dear Miss Gregory," said Syme gently, "there are many kinds of sincerity and insincerity. When you say 'thank you' for the… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“The simplest truth about man is that he is a very strange being; almost in the sense of being a stranger on… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Is that all?" asked Flambeau after a long pause. "Have we got to the dull truth at last?" "Oh, no," said Father… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“In one sense, at any rate, it is more valuable to read bad literature than good literature. Good literature may tell us… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“The truth is, I think, that they are caught in a sort of argument in a circle. Their vague philosophy says to… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“The modern world is filled with men who hold dogmas so strongly that they do not even know that they are dogmas.… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“I? What am I?" roared the President, and he rose slowly to an incredible height, like some enormous wave about to arch… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“When the old Liberals removed the gags from all the heresies, their idea was that religious and philosophical discoveries might thus be… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“The truth is that exploration and enlargement make the world smaller. The telegraph and the steamboat make the world smaller. The telescope… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“It is true that this general truth was hidden from many by certain definite assertions. I can only call them, in simple… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Truths turn into dogmas the instant that they are disputed. Thus every man who utters a doubt defines a religion. And the… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“The present importance of the Book of Job cannot be expressed adequately even by saying that it is the most interesting of… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“I never use paradox. The statements I make are wearisome and obvious common sense. I have even been driven to the tedium of reading… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“Nothing, again, could be more prosaic and impenetrable than the domestic energies of Miss Diana Duke. But Innocent had somehow blundered on the discovery… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“The mass of men have been forced to be gay about the little things, but sad about the big ones. Nevertheless (I offer my… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“ask yourself how many people you have met who grumbled at a thing as incurable, and how many who attacked it as curable? How… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“Internationalism is in any case hostile to democracy….The only purely popular government is local, and founded on local knowledge. The citizens can rule the… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“There was a short railway official travelling up to the terminus, three fairly short market-gardeners picked up two stations afterwards, one very short widow… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“Man, by a blind instinct, knew that if once things were wildly questioned, reason could be questioned first. The authority of priests to absolve,… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“It is idle to talk always of the alternative of reason and faith. Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“But in order that life should be a story or romance to us, it is necessary that a great part of it, at any… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“Buddhism seeks after God with the largest conception it can find, the all-producing and all-absorbing One; Christianity seeks after God with the most elementary… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
“Man is more himself, more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing and grief superficial.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share
