Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive.… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands that he… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
I despise Birth-Control first because it is ... an entirely meaningless word; and is used so as to curry favour even with… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Ivory may not be so white as snow, but the whole Arctic continent does not make ivory black. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
A man making the confession of any creed worth ten minutes' intelligent talk, is always a man who gains something and gives… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
There are many definite methods, honest and dishonest, which make people rich; the only instinct I know of which does it is… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Boyhood is a most complex and incomprehensible thing. Even when one has been through it, one does not understand what it was.… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect. Men do not quarrel about… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
The most important fact about the subject of education is that there is no such thing. Education is not a subject and… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain. Meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Making the landlord and the tenant the same person has certain advantages, as that the tenant pays no rent, while the landlord… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Every true artist does feel, consciously or unconsciously, that he is touching transcendental truths; that his images are shadows of things seen… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
A good man's work is effected by doing what he does, a woman's by being what she is. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad, but chess players do. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
The aesthete aims at harmony rather than beauty. If his hair does not match the mauve sunset against which he is standing,… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Shouldn't atheist have an equal obligation to explain pleasure in a world of randomness. Where does pleasure come from? — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
It is true that there is a thing crudely called charity, which means charity to the deserving poor; but charity to the… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Where does a wise man kick a pebble? On the beach. Where does a wise man hide a leaf? In the forest. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms [the child] to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit,… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
A man making the confession of any creed worth ten minutes' intelligent talk, is always a man who gains something and gives… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
"The Universe repeats itself, with the possible exception of history." Of all earthly studies history is the only one that does not… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Youth is always too serious, and just now it is too serious about frivolity. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things forbidden. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Everyone seems to assume that the unscrupulous parts of journalism will be the frivolous or jocular parts. This is against all ethical experience. Jokes… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
For Scotland has a double dose of the poison called heredity; the sense of blood in the aristocrat, the sense of doom in the… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Faith is always at a disadvantage; it is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all conquerors. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Criticism is only words about words, and of what use are words about such words as these? — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place...The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not a… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Plato was only a Bernard Shaw who unfortunately made his jokes in Greek. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
