Philosophy Quotes by G.K. Chesterton

“Is literature better, is politics better, for having discarded the moralist and the philosopher?”

— G.K. Chesterton

“metaphysics is the only thoroughly emotional thing.”

— G.K. Chesterton

“If you consulted your business experiences instead of your ugly individualistic philosophy, you would know that believing in himself is one of…

— G.K. Chesterton

“A religion is not the church a man goes to but the cosmos he lives in; and if any sceptic forgets it,…

— G.K. Chesterton

“a man is not really convinced of a philosophic theory when he finds that something proves it. He is only really convinced…

— G.K. Chesterton

“the fundamental things in a man are not the things he explains, but rather the things he forgets to explain.”

— G.K. Chesterton

“We say that the dangerous criminal is the educated criminal. We say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless…

— G.K. Chesterton

“Whether the human mind can advance or not, is a question too little discussed, for nothing can be more dangerous than to…

— G.K. Chesterton

“In so far as religion is gone, reason is going. For they are both of the same primary and authoritative kind. They…

— G.K. Chesterton

“central Christian theology (sufficiently summarized in the Apostles' Creed) is the best root of energy and sound ethics.”

— G.K. Chesterton

“Every man, however wise, who begins by worshipping success, must end in mere mediocrity. This strange and paradoxical fate is involved, not…

— G.K. Chesterton

“If it be true (as it certainly is) that a man can feel exquisite happiness in skinning a cat, then the religious…

— G.K. Chesterton

“There is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit…

— G.K. Chesterton

“I'm afraid I'm a practical man,' said the doctor with gruff humour, 'and I don't bother much about religion and philosophy.' 'You'll…

— G.K. Chesterton

“even nursery tales only echo an almost pre-natal leap of interest and amazement. These tales say that apples were golden only to…

— G.K. Chesterton

“The materialist philosophy (whether true or not) is certainly much more limiting than any religion. In one sense, of course, all intelligent…

— G.K. Chesterton

“We think the cat superior because we have (or most of us have) a particular philosophy to the effect that life is…

— G.K. Chesterton

“The modern philosopher had told me again and again that I was in the right place, and I still felt depressed even…

— G.K. Chesterton

“The wild worship of lawlessness and the materialist worship of law end in the same void. Nietzsche scales staggering mountains, but he…

— G.K. Chesterton

“The work of the philosophical policeman," replied the man in blue, "is at once bolder and more subtle than that of the…

— G.K. Chesterton

“Nine times out of ten a man’s broad-mindedness is necessarily the narrowest thing about him. This is not particularly paradoxical; it is,…

— G.K. Chesterton

“People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of…

— G.K. Chesterton

“It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher in Smithfield Market because they do not agree…

— G.K. Chesterton

“That young man with the long, auburn hair and the impudent face—that young man was not really a poet; but surely he…

— G.K. Chesterton

“The vessel was just comfortable for two people; there was room only for necessities, and Flambeau had stocked it with such things…

— G.K. Chesterton

“Perhaps it would sound too paradoxical to say that these two saints saved us from Spirituality; a dreadful doom. Perhaps it may…

— G.K. Chesterton

“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

“Whether the human mind can advance or not, is a question too little discussed, for nothing can be more dangerous than to…

— G.K. Chesterton

“The modern mind is like the eye of a man who is too tired to see the difference between blue and green.…

— G.K. Chesterton

“Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to…

— G.K. Chesterton

“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

“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

“We say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher. Compared to him, burglars and bigamists are essentially…

— G.K. Chesterton

“The modern mind is merely a blank about the philosophy of toleration; and the average agnostic of recent times has really had…

— G.K. Chesterton

“This is not a university town full of philosophies; it is a Zion of the hundred sieges raging with religions; not a…

— G.K. Chesterton

“A man is partially convinced because he has found this or that proof of the thing, and he can expound it. But…

— G.K. Chesterton

“But in practice the great difference between the medieval ethics and ours is that ours concentrate attention on the sins which are…

— G.K. Chesterton

“But there is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the…

— G.K. Chesterton

“There is only one thing that can never go past a certain point in its alliance with oppression--and that is orthodoxy. I…

— G.K. Chesterton

“Blasphemy is an artistic effect, because blasphemy depends upon a philosophical conviction. Blasphemy depends upon belief and is fading with it. If…

— G.K. Chesterton