“the instinct of democracy is like the instinct of one woman, wild but quite right” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Real democrats always insist that England is an aristocratic country. Real aristocrats always insist (for some mysterious reason) that it is a… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“I have never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“The old idealistic republicans used to found democracy on the idea that all men were equally intelligent. Believe me, the sane and… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man. That is a perfectly simple fact… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Man does not necessarily begin with despotism because he is barbarous, but very often finds his way to despotism because he is… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“I have never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our… — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“We must make the intellectual world safe for democracy. But in the conditions of modern mental anarchy, neither that nor any other… — 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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“Humility is the mother of giants. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.” — G.K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
