Quotes by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam.
Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.
When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.
Women prefer to talk in twos, while men prefer to talk in threes.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
And they that rule in England, in stately conclaves met, alas, alas for England they have no graves as yet.
I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
White is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black. God paints in many colors; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white.
One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.
The present condition of fame is merely fashion.
A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching.
There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.
I was planning to go into architecture. But when I arrived, architecture was filled up. Acting was right next to it, so I signed up for acting instead.
A businessman is the only man who is forever apologizing for his occupation.
I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees.
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.
The word "good" has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.
The only defensible war is a war of defense.
When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?
We are justified in enforcing good morals, for they belong to all mankind; but we are not justified in enforcing good manners, for good manners always mean our own manners.
The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.
It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.
