C
Carl
Guest
Here are some of my favorite Chesterton quotes. Would you like to add your own to the list, or comment on a quote, or offer any remarks in general about G.K.?
“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”
“The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right.”
“Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision; instead we are always changing the vision.”
“My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday.”
“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.”
“The past is not what it was.”
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.”
“Women are the only realists; their whole object in life is to pit their realism against the extravagant, excessive, and occasionally drunken idealism of men.”
“Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honor should decline.”
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
“These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.”
“Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.”
“All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive.”
“[No society can survive the socialist] fallacy that there is an absolutely unlimited number of inspired officials and an absolutely unlimited amount of money to pay them.”
“All but the hard hearted man must be torn with pity for this pathetic dilemma of the rich man, who has to keep the poor man just stout enough to do the work and just thin enough to have to do it.”
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
"We are learning to do a great many clever things…The next great task will be to learn not to do them.”
“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.”
“The atheist is not interested in anything except attacks on atheism.”
“There are only two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it, and those who accept dogmas and don’t know it.”
“Without authority there is no liberty. Freedom is doomed to destruction at every turn, unless there is a recognized right to freedom. And if there are rights, there is an authority to which we appeal for them.”
“A strange fanaticism fills our time: the fanatical hatred of morality, especially of Christian morality.”
“The sort of man who admires Italian art while despising Italian religion is a tourist and a cad.”
“It is assumed that the skeptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favor of skepticism.”
“Every man who will not have softening of the heart must at least have softening of the brain.”
“It is the root of all religion that a man knows he is nothing in order to thank God that he is something.”
“What we dread most … is a maze with no center. That is why atheism is only a nightmare.”
“Having been asked the question ‘What in your opinion were the most stupid things of 1933?’ I can answer it very simply…. By far the stupidest thing done, not only in the last year, but in the last two or three centuries, was the acceptance by the Germans of the Dictatorship of Hitler – to say nothing of Goering.”
“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”
“The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right.”
“Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision; instead we are always changing the vision.”
“My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday.”
“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.”
“The past is not what it was.”
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.”
“Women are the only realists; their whole object in life is to pit their realism against the extravagant, excessive, and occasionally drunken idealism of men.”
“Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honor should decline.”
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
“These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.”
“Civilization has run on ahead of the soul of man, and is producing faster than he can think and give thanks.”
“All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive.”
“[No society can survive the socialist] fallacy that there is an absolutely unlimited number of inspired officials and an absolutely unlimited amount of money to pay them.”
“All but the hard hearted man must be torn with pity for this pathetic dilemma of the rich man, who has to keep the poor man just stout enough to do the work and just thin enough to have to do it.”
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
"We are learning to do a great many clever things…The next great task will be to learn not to do them.”
“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.”
“The atheist is not interested in anything except attacks on atheism.”
“There are only two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it, and those who accept dogmas and don’t know it.”
“Without authority there is no liberty. Freedom is doomed to destruction at every turn, unless there is a recognized right to freedom. And if there are rights, there is an authority to which we appeal for them.”
“A strange fanaticism fills our time: the fanatical hatred of morality, especially of Christian morality.”
“The sort of man who admires Italian art while despising Italian religion is a tourist and a cad.”
“It is assumed that the skeptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favor of skepticism.”
“Every man who will not have softening of the heart must at least have softening of the brain.”
“It is the root of all religion that a man knows he is nothing in order to thank God that he is something.”
“What we dread most … is a maze with no center. That is why atheism is only a nightmare.”
“Having been asked the question ‘What in your opinion were the most stupid things of 1933?’ I can answer it very simply…. By far the stupidest thing done, not only in the last year, but in the last two or three centuries, was the acceptance by the Germans of the Dictatorship of Hitler – to say nothing of Goering.”
