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
independent men convince-us
But a somewhat more liberal and sympathetic examination of mankind will convince us that the cross is even older than the gibbet, that voluntary suffering was before and independent of compulsory; and in short that in most important matters a man has always been free to ruin himself if he chose.
men serious merry
No man can be merry unless he is serious.
lying america church
The historic glory of America lies in the fact that it is the one nation that was founded like a church. That is, it was founded on a faith that was not merely summed up after it had exited, but was defined before it existed.
thinking self soul
One can hardly think too little of one's self. One can hardly think too much of one's soul.
people ordinary knows
We are all ordinary people. And it's the extraordinary people Who know it.
victory purpose failing
There is nothing so weak, for working purposes, as this enormous importance attached to immediate victory. There is nothing that fails like success.
may recurrence repetition
The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.
writing editors people
If an editor can only make people angry enough, they will write half his newspaper for him for nothing.
men great-men knows
A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.
vanity curiosity motive
I am a journalist and have no earthly motives except curiosity and personal vanity.
atheism masterpiece extraordinary
The Universe is the most extraordinary masterpiece ever constructed by nobody.
past men may
If the common man in the past had a grave respect for property, it may conceivably have been because he sometimes had some of his own.
art men thinking
For the mass of men the idea of artistic creation can only be expressed by an idea unpopular in present discussions - the idea of property... Property is merely the art of the democracy... One would think, to hear people talk, that the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers were on the side of property. But obviously they are the enemies of property; because they are enemies of their own limitations.
real men law
All the controversialists who have become conscious of the real issue are already saying of our ideal exactly what used to be said of the Socialists' ideal. They are saying that private property is too ideal not to be impossible. They are saying that private enterprise is too good to be true. They are saying that the idea of ordinary men owning ordinary possessions is against the laws of political economy and requires an alteration in human nature.