Gilbert K. Chesterton

The one stream of poetry which is continually flowing is slang.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Tolerance is the virtue of those who don't believe anything.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The thing that cannot be defined is the first thing; the primary fact.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

(Tradition) is the democracy of the dead.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

We must be fond of the world, even in order to change it.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Theology is simply that part of religion that requires brains.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

There is no logical connection between flying and laying eggs.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

When belief in God becomes difficult, the tendency is to turn away from Him; but in heaven's name to what?

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The Party System was founded on one national notion of fair play. It was the notion that folly and futility should be…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

If prosperity is regarded as the reward of virtue it will be regarded as the symptom of virtue.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

A great man is not a man so strong that he feels less than other men; he is a man so strong…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Criticism is only words about words, and of what use are words about such words as these?

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Circumstances break men's bones; it has never been shown that they break men's optimism.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The unconscious democracy of America is a very fine thing. It is a true and deep and instinctive assumption of the equality…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

A nation is not going mad when it does extravagant things, so long as it does them in an extravagant spirit. But…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The historic glory of America lies in the fact that it is the one nation that was founded like a church. That…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

It is a strange thing that many truly spiritual men, such as General Gordon, have actually spent some hours in speculating upon…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Thrift is the really romantic thing; economy is more romantic than extravagance... thrift is poetic because it is creative; waste is unpoetic…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

A fad or heresy is the exaltation of something which even if true, is secondary or temporary in its nature against those…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

. . . For friendship implies individuality; whereas comradeship really implies the temporary subordination, if not the temporary swamping of individuality. Friends…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

It isn't that they can't see the solution. It's that they can't see the problem. They can't see the problem if they…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The outer ring of Christianity is a rigid guard of ethical abnegations and professional priests; but inside that inhuman guard you will…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

A man will not roll in the snow for a stream of tendency by which all things fulfill the law of their…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

For they (capitalists) hold as their chief heresy, in a coarser form, the fundamental falsehood that things are not made to be…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Now, among the heresies that are spoken in this matter is the habit of calling a grey day a "colourless" day. Grey…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The theory of free speech, that truth is so much larger and stranger and more many-sided than we know of, that it…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

The perils, rewards, punishments, and fulfillments of an adventure must be real, or the adventure is only a shifting and heartless nightmare.…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Literary men are being employed to praise a big business man personally, as men used to praise a king. They not only…

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

I've been to every park in every city and not seen a statue to a committee.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Art is born when the temporary touches the eternal.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

When men cease to believe in God, they will believe in anything

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

If a man only likes victory he must always come late for the battle.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

A nation that has nothing but its amusements will not be amused for long.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Every time a man knocks on a brothel door, he is really knocking for God

— Gilbert K. Chesterton