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Gilbert K. Chesterton

73 quotes

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English writer, philosopher, and literary critic known for his prolific output, quick wit, and paradoxical style of argument. The creator of the beloved Father Brown detective stories, Chesterton wrote on theology, philosophy, and social issues with a joyful exuberance that earned him the nickname "the prince of paradox."

“Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Education

All Quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton

“Men feel that cruelty to the poor is a kind of cruelty to animals. They never feel that it is an injustice to equals nay it is treachery to comrades.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Men

“Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Education

“Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Respect

“Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Men

“A man who says that no patriot should attack the war until it is over... is saying no good son should warn his mother of a cliff until she has fallen.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

War

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Life

“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

God

“All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Poetry

“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.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Politics

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Travel

“Women prefer to talk in twos, while men prefer to talk in threes.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Men

“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Courage

“Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Art

“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

“I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Best

“Half a truth is better than no politics.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Politics

“The word 'good' has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Good

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Travel

“In matters of truth the fact that you don't want to publish something is, nine times out of ten, a proof that you ought to publish it.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Truth

“Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalised.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Happiness