K. Chesterton
K. Chesterton
apples noses newton
If the apple hit Newton’s nose, Newton’s nose hit the apple.
simple physical-science infallible
Physical science is like simple addition: it is either infallible or it is false.
angel reason
The reason that angels fly is that they take themselves so lightly.
believe found preaching
I believe in preaching to the converted; for I have generally found that the converted do not understand their own religion.
book hero mean
Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is: what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problems of the modern novel is: what will a madman do with a dull world? In the fairy tales the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos.
education saint speak
It is better to speak wisdom foolishly like the saints than to speak folly wisely like the deans.
party government two
English experience indicates that when the two great political parties agree about something it is generally wrong.
father mean men
Tradition is only democracy extended through time; it may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who are merely walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father.
dragons fairy-stories fairy-tale
Fairy tales are more than true ...
gratitude duty difficult
Gratitude, being nearly the greatest of human duties, is also nearly the most difficult.
long amusement nations
A nation that has nothing but its amusements will not be amused for long.
looks might deities
When we look upon lives so human and yet so small, we feel as if we ourselves were enlarged to an embarrassing bigness of stature. We feel the same kind of obligation to these creatures that a deity might feel if he had created something that he could not understand.
slang streams
The one stream of poetry which is continually flowing is slang.
ignorance poetic dramatic
There is a certain poetic value, and that a genuine one, in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things. There is beauty, not only in wisdom, but in this dazed and dramatic ignorance.