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
sweet children grateful
Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?
men thinking talking
Think of all those ages through which men have had the courage to die, and then remember that we have actually fallen to talking about having the courage to live.
opposites balance christianity
Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious.
thinking sin pessimism
I still think sincere pessimism the unpardonable sin.
exercise sea infinite
Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion. To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain.
said survived
She had never really listened to anyone in her life; which, some said, was why she had survived.
miracle childhood world
What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.
men pistols use
I am going to hold a pistol to the head of the Modern Man. But I shall not use it to kill him–only to bring him to life.
book written
Like every book I never wrote, it is by far the best book I have ever written.
inspirational strong practice
of being strong and brave. The strong can not be brave. Only the weak can be brave; and yet again, in practice, only those who can be brave can be trusted, in time of doubt, to be strong.
sick world being-sick
The most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.
men hair long
That young man with the long, auburn hair and the impudent face - that young man was not really a poet; but surely he was a poem.
thinking devil unbearable
If the devil tells you something is too fearful to look at, look at it. If he says something is too terrible to hear, hear it. If you think some truth unbearable, bear it.
moving christian-inspirational mind
If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by the things that go with good judgment.