K. Chesterton
K. Chesterton
invisible intoxication champagne
Most Americans ... have a sort of permanent intoxication from within, a sort of invisible champagne.
hands fire people
It was the people who did not care who filled the world with fire and oppression. It was the hands of the indifferent that lit the faggots; it was the hands of the indifferent that turned the rack.
men sky political
Ingratitude is surely the chief of the intellectual sins of man. He takes his political benefits for granted, just as he takes the skies and the seasons for granted.
men laughing criticism
In the modern conflict between the Smile and the Laugh, I am all in favor of laughing. The recent stage of culture and criticism might very well be summed up as the men who smile criticizing the men who laugh.
analysis psycho confession
I should say that psycho-analysis was confession without absolution.
politician
Every politician is emphatically a promising politician.
humble men proud
And it is always the humble man who talks too much; the proud man watches himself too closely.
war differences would-be
That all war is physically frightful is obvious; but if that were a moral verdict, there would be no difference between a torturer and a surgeon. There are certain intellectuals who are too bright to be content with merely praising peace but who are infuriated by anybody praising war. If no war is possible, all criminality has its chance
mean doe orthodox
Not only does "orthodox" no longer mean being right, it practically means being wrong.
men break ten
No man can break any of the Ten Commandments. He can only break himself against them.
fall orthodoxy infinity
There are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands.
believe artist clouds
Every true artist does feel, consciously or unconsciously, that he is touching transcendental truths; that his images are shadows of things seen through the veil. In other words, the natural mystic does know that there is something there, something behind the clouds or within the trees; but he believes that the pursuit of beauty is the way to find it; that imagination is a sort of incantation that can call it up.
thinking
I have no right to think for myself. I have no right to think at all.
men perfect consistency
But pure wit is akin to Puritanism; to the perfect and painful consciousness of the final fact in the universe. Very briefly, the man who sees the consistency in things is a wit - and a Calvinist. The man who sees the inconsistency in things is a humorist - and a Catholic.