K. Chesterton
K. Chesterton
choices soul morality
What we call emancipation is always and of necessity simply the free choice of the soul between one set of limitations and another.
intelligent trying goes-on
The world will very soon be divided, unless I am mistaken, into those who still go on explaining our success, and those somewhat more intelligent who are trying to explain our failure.
dirty luxury giving
If we want to give poor people soap we must set out deliberately to give them luxuries. If we will not make them rich enough to be clean, then empathically we must do what we did with the saints. We must reverence them for being dirty.
sea voice special
The voice of the special rebels and prophets, recommending discontent, should, as I have said, sound now and then suddenly, like a trumpet. But the voices of the saints and sages, recommending contentment, should sound unceasingly, like the sea.
humble men sea
To the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sun is really a sun; to the humble man, and to the humble man alone, the sea is really a sea.
simple men suffering
I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.
tired men water
All men thirst to confess their crimes more than tired beasts thirst for water; but they naturally object to confessing them while other people, who have also committed the same crimes, sit by and laugh at them.
believe sacred morality
Truth is sacred; and if you tell the truth too often nobody will believe it.
half vices allies
The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice.
men good-man morality
It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have enough good men to curse them.
christmas people wake-up
The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why.
christmas kings dark
The more we are proud that the Bethlehem story is plain enough to be understood by the shepherds, and almost by the sheep, the more do we let ourselves go, in dark and gorgeous imaginative frescoes or pageants about the mystery and majesty of the Three Magian Kings.
christmas turkeys life-and-death
What life and death may be to a turkey is not my business; but the soul of Scrooge and the body of Cratchit are my business.
mistake fads noble
Puritanism was an honourable mood; it was a noble fad. In other words, it was a highly creditable mistake.