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
self criticism excess
What embitters the world is not excess of criticism, but an absence of self-criticism.
selfish habit unselfish
Customs are generally unselfish. Habits are nearly always selfish.
dirty self circles
Madness does not come by breaking out, but by giving in; by settling down in some dirty, little, self-repeating circle of ideas; by being tamed.
sacrifice self desire
Every act of will is an act of self-limitation. To desire action is to desire limitation. In that sense, every act is an act of self-sacrifice. When you choose anything, you reject everything else.
religious mean self
Though the academic authorities are actually proud of conducting everything by means of Examinations, they seldom indulge in what religious people used to descibe as Self-Examination. The consequence is that the modern State has educated its citizens in a series of ephemeral fads.
museums self intellectual
The Museum is not meant either for the wanderer to see by accident or for the pilgrim to see with awe. It is meant for the mere slave of a routine of self- education to stuff himself with every sort of incongruous intellectual food in one indigestible meal.
self government culture
Self-denial is the test and definition of self-government.
selfish confused cities
The modern city is ugly not because it is a city but because it is not enough of a city, because it is a jungle, because it is confused and anarchic, and surging with selfish and materialistic energies.
passion selfishness doctrine
It was the mystical dogma of Bentham and Adam Smith and the rest, that some of the worst of human passions would turn out to be all for the best. It was the mysterious doctrine that selfishness would do the work of unselfishness.
thinking self soul
One can hardly think too little of one's self. One can hardly think too much of one's soul.
action believe falls however men unless
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
catching discovered miss train
The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before.
christian difficult found ideal left tried
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.
brute mere sort
The mere brute pleasure of reading the sort of pleasure a cow must have in grazing.