--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When we reverence anything in the mature…" description: "\"When we reverence anything in the mature, it is their virtues or their wisdom, and this is an easy matter. But we reverence the faults and follies of c..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_affection_when-we-reverence-anything-in-the-mature_1131647.png" --- # When we reverence anything in the mature, it is their… ![“When we reverence anything in the mature, it is their virtues or their wisdom, and this is an easy matter. But we reverence the faults and follies of children. We should probably come considerably nearer to the true conception of things if we treated all grown-up persons, of all titles and types…” quote by Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_affection_when-we-reverence-anything-in-the-mature_1131647.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_affection_when-we-reverence-anything-in-the-mature_1131647.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c25/gilbert-k-chesterton-223_affection_when-we-reverence-anything-in-the-mature_1131647.png) > “When we reverence anything in the mature, it is their virtues or their wisdom, and this is an easy matter. But we reverence the faults and follies of children. We should probably come considerably nearer to the true conception of things if we treated all grown-up persons, of all titles and types, with precisely that dark affection and dazed respect with which we treat the infantile limitations.” [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. Mature people are respected for virtues, while children are pitied for flaws; true wisdom would treat adults with the same gentle reverence we give infants. **In simple terms:** Adults deserve the same compassionate respect we give children. Key Takeaway Show equal respect to all ages. Themes respect humility wisdom compassion Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - parenting - leadership - education - interpersonal relations Key Concepts social hierarchy psychology of reverence Questions to Reflect On - How would relationships change if we treated adults with child‑like empathy? - What risks arise from over‑idealizing maturity? A Different Perspective Adults also have flaws; blind reverence can prevent accountability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affection/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Conception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conception/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Dazed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dazed/) [Easy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/easy/) [Faults](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faults/) [Folly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folly/) [Grown Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grown-persons-2477026/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Infantile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infantile/) [Limitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/limitation/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Mature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mature/) [Mature Virtues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mature-virtues-3111480/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Respect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/respect/) [Reverence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverence/) [Reverence Faults](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverence-faults-3111482/) [Reverence Mature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverence-mature-3111481/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Titles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/titles/) [Treated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/treated/) [Treats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/treats/) [Type](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/type/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [The plays and sports of children are as salutary to them as labor and work are to grown persons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-richardson/the-plays-and-sports-of-children-are-as-salutary-to-them-as-labor-and/) [Samuel Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-richardson/) > [Children are all more or less little monkeys in that they imitate everything they see. If their mother treats them exactly as she does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-post/children-are-all-more-or-less-little-monkeys-in-that-they-imitate/) [Emily Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-post/) > [When grown-up persons indulge in practical jokes, the fact gauges them. They have lived narrow, obscure, and ignorant lives, and at full manhood they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/when-grown-up-persons-indulge-in-practical-jokes-the-fact-gauges-them/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [There is a certain poetic value, and that a genuine one, in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/there-is-a-certain-poetic-value-and-that-a-genuine-one-in-this-sense/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [“Sure enough, they were both sitting in the floor, each with bed-head looking a little dazed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quinn-loftis/sure-enough-they-were-both-sitting-in-the-floor-each-with-bed-head/) [Quinn Loftis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quinn-loftis/) > [“the reality of being here eludes me, I can’t focus, I am dazed. And I want to stay this way. If I have too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonali-deraniyagala/the-reality-of-being-here-eludes-me-i-can-t-focus-i-am-dazed-and-i/) [Sonali Deraniyagala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonali-deraniyagala/) > [What Whitney Houston has accomplished will never be accomplished. She's the most famous person on the planet as far as vocaling and her songs.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narada-michael-walden/what-whitney-houston-has-accomplished-will-never-be-accomplished-she/) [Narada Michael Walden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narada-michael-walden/) > [“They’re dazed because you don’t have your ‘back the fuck off’ sign on today.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-washington/they-re-dazed-because-you-don-t-have-your-back-the-fuck-off-sign-on/) [Jane Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-washington/) > [My eyes were dazed by you for a little, and that was all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/my-eyes-were-dazed-by-you-for-a-little-and-that-was-all/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [Political pundits are saying President George W. Bush has made gains in two key states: dazed and confused.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-letterman/political-pundits-are-saying-president-george-w-bush-has-made-gains/) [David Letterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-letterman/) > [A photograph is a universe of dots. The grain, the halide, the little silver things clumped in the emulsion. Once you get inside a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/a-photograph-is-a-universe-of-dots-the-grain-the-halide-the-little/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [People, particularly big men carrying big rifles, don't expect lip from a scrawny thing like me. They always look a bit dazed when they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-bardugo/people-particularly-big-men-carrying-big-rifles-don-t-expect-lip-from/) [Leigh Bardugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-bardugo/) > [The older you get, the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’ man, l-i-v-i-n’](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-mcconaughey/the-older-you-get-the-more-rules-they-re-gonna-try-to-get-you-to/) [Matthew McConaughey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-mcconaughey/) > [Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly and tells you the whole story of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/grief-that-is-dazed-and-speechless-is-out-of-fashion-the-modern-woman/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## 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. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Youth is always too serious, and just now it is too serious about frivolity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/youth-is-always-too-serious-and-just-now-it-is-too-serious-about/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/tradition-does-not-mean-a-dead-town-it-does-not-mean-that-the-living/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things forbidden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/it-is-shorter-to-state-the-things-forbidden-than-the-things-permitted/) [Gilbert K. 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 Affection quotes > [My team and I have reunited two elements that coexist with diffiulty: respect and affection, because when they love you they don't respect you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shakira/my-team-and-i-have-reunited-two-elements-that-coexist-with-diffiulty/) [Shakira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shakira/) > [Needs cause motivation. Deep-rooted desires for esteem, affection, belonging, achievement, self-actualization, power, and control motivate us to push for what we want and need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorii-myers/needs-cause-motivation-deep-rooted-desires-for-esteem-affection/) [Lorii Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorii-myers/) > [“It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kahlil-gibran/it-is-to-build-a-house-with-affection-even-as-if-your-beloved-were-to/) [Kahlil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kahlil-gibran/) > [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [I, measuring his affections by my own, Which then most sought where most might not be found, Being one too many by my weary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-measuring-his-affections-by-my-own-which-then-most-sought-where/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [There are a number of qualities which are important for mental peace, but from the little experience I have, I believe that one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/there-are-a-number-of-qualities-which-are-important-for-mental-peace/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [A lost love. Deny it who will, ridicule it, treat it as mere imagination and sentiment, the thing is and will be; and women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/a-lost-love-deny-it-who-will-ridicule-it-treat-it-as-mere-imagination/) [Dinah Maria Murlock Craik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/) > [Affection! Affection is false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-i/affection-affection-is-false/) [Elizabeth I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-i/) > [We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestation-of-life-we-have-language/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Listen, I have a great affection and respect for Joe Biden. I think he's been a great vice president. He's taken on a lot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-axelrod/listen-i-have-a-great-affection-and-respect-for-joe-biden-i-think-he/) [David Axelrod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-axelrod/) > [The still affection of the heart Became an outward breathing type, That into stillness past again, And left a want unknown before; Although the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-still-affection-of-the-heart-became-an-outward-breathing-type/) [Alfred Lord Tennyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/) > [I am persuaded that there is no affection of the human heart more exquisitely pure, than that which is felt by a grateful son…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-more/i-am-persuaded-that-there-is-no-affection-of-the-human-heart-more/) [Hannah More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-more/) > [If you live in a material universe where acquiring things is very important to you, then family is an absolute deterrent to maintaining that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/if-you-live-in-a-material-universe-where-acquiring-things-is-very/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [Our sweetest experiences of affection are meant to be suggestions of that realm which is the home of the heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/our-sweetest-experiences-of-affection-are-meant-to-be-suggestions-of/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [“Georgia O’Keeffe moved to rural New Mexico, from which she would sign her letters to the people she loved, “from the faraway nearby.” It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-solnit/georgia-o-keeffe-moved-to-rural-new-mexico-from-which-she-would-sign/) [Rebecca Solnit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-solnit/) [Browse all 2,465 Affection quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affection/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When we reverence anything in the mature, it is their virtues or their wisdom, and this is an easy matter. 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