Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes - Page 7

• The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Men, Rights, Independence

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• The difficulty of explaining ‘why I am a Catholic’ is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Catholic, Reason, Explaining

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• It is true that there is a thing crudely called charity, which means charity to the deserving poor; but charity to the deserving is not charity at all, but justice. It is the undeserving who require it, and the ideal either does not exist at all, or exists wholly for them.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Mean, Justice, Charity

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (1909). “Heretics”

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• When a politician is in opposition he is an expert on the means to some end; and when he is in office he is an expert on the obstacles to it.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Mean, Office, Experts

  Illustrated London News, April 6, 1918.

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• The evolutionists seem to know everything about the missing link except the fact that it is missing.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Missing, Links, Facts

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• Passion makes every detail important.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Passion, Important, Details

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• An imbecile habit has arisen in modern controversy of saying that such and such a creed can be held in one age but cannot be held in another. Some dogma, we are told, was credible in the twelfth century, but is not credible in the twentieth. You might as well say that a certain philosophy can be believed on Mondays, but cannot be believed on Tuesdays. You might as well say of a view of the cosmos that it was suitable to half-past three, but not suitable to half-past four. What a man can believe depends upon his philosophy, not upon the clock or the century.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Monday, Philosophy, Believe

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.55, Simon and Schuster

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• The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Mother, Mother Nature, Christianity

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.84, Simon and Schuster

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• We should always endeavor to wonder at the permanent thing, not at the mere exception. We should be startled by the sun, and not by the eclipse. We should wonder less at the earthquake, and wonder more at the earth.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Earthquakes, Sun, Wonder

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• If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Morality, Modern, Strengthening

  "By What Definition is Gavin Newsom’s Sex Life 'Breaking News'?" by Arianna Huffington, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 1, 2007.

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• Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Art, Lying, Long

  Tremendous Trifles (1909) "On Lying in Bed"

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• There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Hate, If There Is A God, Christian Inspirational

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• Unfortunately, 19th-century scientists were just as ready to jump to the conclusion that any guess about nature was an obvious fact, as were 17th-century sectarians to jump to the conclusion that any guess about Scripture was the obvious explanation . . . . and this clumsy collision of two very impatient forms of ignorance was known as the quarrel of Science and Religion.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Ignorance, Two, Scripture

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• There is only one thing certain and that is that nothing is certain

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Certain, One Thing

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• Modern intelligence won't accept anything on authority. But it will accept anything without authority.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Modern, Authority, Accepting

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.100, Simon and Schuster

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• One can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Sometimes, Persons, Right Person

  "The Sins of Prince Saradine: A Father Brown Mystery". Book by Gilbert K. Chesterton, 1911.

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• When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Christmas, Gratitude, Children

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• One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Stars, Knowledge, Acceptance

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.38, Simon and Schuster

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• Tolerance is a virtue of people who don't believe in anything anymore.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Believe, People, Tolerance

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• For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point and does not break.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Mean, Point Break, Soul

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.104, Simon and Schuster

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• The chief object of education is not to learn things but to unlearn things.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Education, Learning, Justice

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• Coincidence is a spiritual pun.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Spiritual, Definitions, Coincidence

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• Government has become ungovernable; that is, it cannot leave off governing. Law has become lawless; that is, it cannot see where laws should stop. The chief feature of our time is the meekness of the mob and the madness of the government.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Government, Law, Madness

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• St Thomas (Aqinas) loved books and lived on books... When asked for what he thanked God most, he answered simply, ‘I have understood every page I ever read’.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Book, Pages, St Thomas

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• It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Happiness, Light, Easy

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.91, Simon and Schuster

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