Gilbert K. Chesterton
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG, better known as G. K. Chesterton, was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox." Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth29 May 1874
corporations efficiency bigs
The big corporation is not in the least remarkable for efficiency; it is only too big to be blamed for its inefficiency.
wine paradise drink
The wine they drink in Paradise They make in Haute Lorraine.
book writing world
You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.
order society world
We must be fond of the world, even in order to change it.
funny-friendship good-man fool
There are a good many fools who call me a friend, and also a good many friends who call me a fool.
children humorous men
...it is not necessary to the child to awaken to the sense of the strange and humorous by giving a man a luminous nose...to the child it is sufficiently strange and humorous to have a nose at all.
art born temporary
Art is born when the temporary touches the eternal.
history slides
History is not a toboggan slide, but a road to be reconsidered and even retraced
integrity dry wonder
Contemporary society has become dry, not for lack of wonders but for lack of wonder.
mistake errors important
There is something to be said for every error; but, whatever may be said for it, the most important thing to be said about it is that it is erroneous.
christian dog gone
At least five times, with the Arian and the Albigensian, with the Humanist skeptic, after Voltaire and after Darwin, the Christian Faith has to all appearance, gone to the dogs? But, in each of these five cases, it was the dog that died.
men order roots
It is the root of all religion that a man knows that he is nothing in order to thank God that he is something.
drinking laughing would-be
Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable. Never drink when you are wretched without it, or you will be like the grey-faced gin-drinker in the slum; but drink when you would be happy without it, and you will be like the laughing peasant of Italy. Never drink because you need it, for this is rational drinking, and the way to death and hell. But drink because you do not need it, for this is irrational drinking, and the ancient health of the world.
real lying waiting
The real trouble with this world of ours is not that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one. The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not quite. ... It looks just a little more mathematical and regular than it is; its exactitude is obvious, but its inexactitude is hidden; its wilderness lies in wait.