--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Folk-lore means that the soul is sane…" description: "\"Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_book_folk-lore-means-that-the-soul-is-sane-bu_634756.png" --- # Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the… ![“Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is: what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problems of the…” quote by Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_book_folk-lore-means-that-the-soul-is-sane-bu_634756.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_book_folk-lore-means-that-the-soul-is-sane-bu_634756.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/173/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_book_folk-lore-means-that-the-soul-is-sane-bu_634756.png) > “Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is: what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problems of the modern novel is: what will a madman do with a dull world? In the fairy tales the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos.” [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote contrasts folk‑lore’s wondrous universe with realism’s dullness, asking how a sane person navigates a fantastical world versus how a mad person endures a banal one. **In simple terms:** It asks how we cope with wonder or monotony. Key Takeaway Recognize the balance between imagination and reality. Themes imagination reality human nature creativity madness sanity Mood contemplative thoughtful philosophical Type literary philosophical reflective When to use this quote - reading literature - creative writing - therapy - education - personal growth Key Concepts existentialism literary criticism psychology Questions to Reflect On - Do you seek wonder or order? - How does madness affect perception? A Different Perspective The dichotomy may oversimplify complex human experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Cosmos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmos/) [Fairy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fairy/) [Fairy tale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fairy-tale/) [Fairy tales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fairy-tales/) [Fantastic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fantastic/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Hero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hero/) [Madmen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/madmen/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Modern novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-novel/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Realism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realism/) [Routine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/routine/) [Sanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sanity/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Steadiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/steadiness/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Tales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tales/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“Can you not see," I said, "that fairy tales in their essence are quite solid and straightforward; but that this everlasting fiction about modern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/can-you-not-see-i-said-that-fairy-tales-in-their-essence-are-quite/) [G.K. 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Roalfe Cox brought together, in a volume of the Folk-Lore Society, no less than 345 variants of 'Cinderella' and kindred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-jacobs/in-1893-miss-m-roalfe-cox-brought-together-in-a-volume-of-the-folk/) [Joseph Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-jacobs/) > [ “Studies \[on the origin of fairy-stories\] are, however, scientific (at least in intent); they are the pursuit of folklorists or anthropologists: that is of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien/studies-on-the-origin-of-fairy-stories-are-however-scientific-at/) [J.R.R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien/) > [“And even these ((the common hill fairy, the standard elf of folk-lore) are in danger of being banished into the limbo of forgetfulness by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/and-even-these-the-common-hill-fairy-the-standard-elf-of-folk-lore/) [Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/) > [“Stories which have failed either to become popular folk lore or to be embalmed in old newspaper files are in great danger of oblivion.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruby-elhult/stories-which-have-failed-either-to-become-popular-folk-lore-or-to-be/) Ruby Elhult > [Imagination without culture is crippled and moves slowly; but it can be pure imagination, and rich also, as folk-lore will tell the vainest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ouida/imagination-without-culture-is-crippled-and-moves-slowly-but-it-can/) [Ouida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ouida/) > [LORE, n. Learning --particularly that sort which is not derived from a regular course of instruction but comes of the reading of occult books,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/lore-n-learning-particularly-that-sort-which-is-not-derived-from-a/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [The truth is, my folk-lore friends and my Saturday Reviewer differ with me on the important problem of the origin of folk-tales. They think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-jacobs/the-truth-is-my-folk-lore-friends-and-my-saturday-reviewer-differ/) [Joseph Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-jacobs/) > [Books of quick interest, that hurry on for incidents are for the eye to glide over only. It will not do to read them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/books-of-quick-interest-that-hurry-on-for-incidents-are-for-the-eye/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I read a lot of detective stories because they always deliver. They give you a beginning, a middle, and an end - a resolution.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-cormier/i-read-a-lot-of-detective-stories-because-they-always-deliver-they/) [Robert Cormier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-cormier/) > [Modern novels have become part of the do-it-yourself business, and they come in a very small number of standard kits. (...) In this wilderness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-pryce-jones/modern-novels-have-become-part-of-the-do-it-yourself-business-and/) David Pryce-Jones > [In modern novels I try to not let myself get away and to be here, and that's why I write about my life and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-ove-knausgard/in-modern-novels-i-try-to-not-let-myself-get-away-and-to-be-here-and/) [Karl Ove Knausgard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-ove-knausgard/) ## More by Gilbert K. Chesterton > [The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-aim-of-good-prose-words-is-to-mean-what-they-say-the-aim-of-good/) [Gilbert K. 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Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Everyone seems to assume that the unscrupulous parts of journalism will be the frivolous or jocular parts. This is against all ethical experience. Jokes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/everyone-seems-to-assume-that-the-unscrupulous-parts-of-journalism/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [For Scotland has a double dose of the poison called heredity; the sense of blood in the aristocrat, the sense of doom in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/for-scotland-has-a-double-dose-of-the-poison-called-heredity-the/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Faith is always at a disadvantage; it is a perpetually defeated thing which survives all conquerors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/faith-is-always-at-a-disadvantage-it-is-a-perpetually-defeated-thing/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/a-building-is-akin-to-dogma-it-is-insolent-like-dogma-whether-or-no/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-triangle-of-truisms-of-father-mother-and-child-cannot-be/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Criticism is only words about words, and of what use are words about such words as these?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/criticism-is-only-words-about-words-and-of-what-use-are-words-about/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/what-we-suffer-from-today-is-humility-in-the-wrong-place-the-old/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Plato was only a Bernard Shaw who unfortunately made his jokes in Greek.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/plato-was-only-a-bernard-shaw-who-unfortunately-made-his-jokes-in/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [The word good has many meanings...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-word-good-has-many-meanings/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/music-with-dinner-is-an-insult-both-to-the-cook-and-the-violinist/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Eugenics asserts that all men must be so stupid that they cannot manage their own affairs; and also so clever that they can manage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/eugenics-asserts-that-all-men-must-be-so-stupid-that-they-cannot/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) [Explore all 868 Gilbert K. Chesterton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) ## More Book quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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