K. Chesterton
K. Chesterton
philosophy cat thinking
...But nature does not say that cats are more valuable than mice; nature makes no remark on the subject. She does not even say that the cat is enviable or the mouse pitiable. We think the cat superior because we have (or most of us have) a particular philosophy to the effect that life is better than death. But if the mouse were a German pessimist mouse, he might not think that the cat had beaten him at all. He might think he had beaten the cat by getting to the grave first.
men boys never-quit
A man can never quite understand a boy, even when he has been a boy.
black-and-white two phrases
They have invented a phrase, a phrase that is a black and white contradiction in two words - 'free-love' - as if a lover ever had been, or ever could be, free.
thinking two squares
If I think the universe is triangular, and you think it is square, there cannot be room for two universes. We may argue politely, we may argue humanely, we may argue with great mutual benefit: but, obviously, we must argue.
silence modern tyranny
Modern toleration is really a tyranny. It is a tyranny because it is a silence.
simplicity world modern
The modern world... has no notion except that of simplifying something by destroying nearly everything.
powerful passion men
Powerful men who have powerful passions use much of their strength in forging chains for themselves.
romance insecurity strange
Romance is the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure.
pride men political
The diseased pride [of artistic individualists] was not even conscious of a public interest, and would have found all political terms utterly tasteless and insignificant. It was no longer a question of one man one vote, but of one man one universe.
men imagination quality
The original quality in any man of imagination is imagery.
art men wish
A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it.
weather clouds darkness
We all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out. The mystery of life is the plainest part of it. The clouds and curtains of darkness, the confounding vapors, these are the daily weather of this world.
rolling made drunkards
Before the Roman came to Rye or out to severn strode, / The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
men criticism green
A great deal of contemporary criticism reads to me like a man saying, 'Of course I do not like green cheese. I am very fond of brown sherry.