K. Chesterton
K. Chesterton
war revolution generations
[Marxism will] in a generation or so [go] into the limbo of most heresies, but meanwhile it will have poisoned the Russian Revolution.
past progress cult
The past is not what it was.
progress age minorities
This is the age in which thin and theoretic minorities can cover and conquer unconscious and untheoretic majorities.
progress leisure action
To hurry through one's leisure is the most unbusiness-like of actions.
men swings ideas
The whole curse of the last century has been what is called the Swing of the Pendulum; that is, the idea that Man must go alternately from one extreme to the other. It is a shameful and even shocking fancy; it is the denial of the whole dignity of the mankind. When Man is alive he stands still. It is only when he is dead that he swings.
fire romance heaven
I still hold. . .that the suburbs ought to be either glorified by romance and religion or else destroyed by fire from heaven, or even by firebrands from the earth.
people progress machines
None of the modern machines, none of the modern paraphernalia. . . have any power except over the people who choose to use them.
air space long
Comforts that were rare among our forefathers are now multiplied in factories and handed out wholesale; and indeed, nobody nowadays, so long as he is content to go without air, space, quiet, decency and good manners, need be without anything whatever that he wants; or at least a reasonably cheap imitation of it.
men progress looks
Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.
attitude boredom long
My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday.
progress-of-society progress cult
Progress is a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative.
timeless
Aesthetes never do anything but what they are told.
men use reason
When learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven't got any.
real world opera
We have had no good comic operas of late, because the real world has been more comic than any possible opera.