This is the perpetual and pitiful tragedy of the practical man in practical affairs. He always begins with a flourish of contempt… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Whatever else may be said of man, this one thing is clear: He is not what he is capable of being. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Catholicism is not ritualism; it may in the future be fighting some sort of superstitious and idolatrous exaggeration of ritual. Catholicism is… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
What is education? Properly speaking, there is no such thing as education. Education is simply the soul of a society as it… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
The true savage is a slave, and is always talking about what he must do; the true civilised man is a free… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
When once you have got hold of a vulgar joke, you may be certain that you have got hold of a subtle… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
I may not practice what I preach but God forbid I should preach what I practice — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
So far as a man may be proud of a religion rooted in humility, I am very proud of my religion; I… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
The philosophy of this world may be founded on facts, but its business is run on spiritual impressions and atmospheres. — 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
Life is serious all the time, but living cannot be. You may have all the solemnity you wish in your neckties, but… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
We all know that the 'divine glory of the ego' is socially a great nuisance; we all do actually value our friends… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Science only means knowledge; and for [Greek] ancients it did only mean knowledge. Thus the favorite science of the Greeks was Astronomy,… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Free verse'? You may as well call sleeping in a ditch 'free architecture'. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Bigotry may be roughly defined as the anger of men who have no opinions. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
There have been household gods and household saints and household fairies. I am not sure that there have yet been any factory… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
If Christianity should happen to be true - that is to say, if its God is the real God of the universe… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Tradition is only democracy extended through time; it may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
It is cold anarchy to say that all men are to meddle in all men'smarriages. It is cold anarchy to say that… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground. — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
[Consider] a fence or gate erected across a road] The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says,… — Gilbert K. Chesterton Copy Share Image
A sober man may become a drunkard through being a coward. A brave man may become a coward through being a drunkard. — 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
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