The case of the general talk of "progress" is, indeed, an extreme one. As enunciated today, "progress" is simply a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative. We meet every ideal of religion, patriotism, beauty, or brute pleasure with the alternative ideal of progress—that is to say, we meet every proposal of getting something that we know about, with an alternative proposal of getting a great deal more of nobody knows what.
G.K. Chesterton
Related Each of us views life through a different lens. What we think is colored by the baggage we carry, an... LAURIE BUCHANAN, PHD If we're honest with ourselves, most of us know the one thing we lack. CRAIG GROESCHEL I don't know if I have a favorite color. KATE MIDDLETON It's very special having a new little girl. KATE MIDDLETON The answer isn't more time but a greater awareness of the time we have. CRAIG GROESCHEL We all are wearing many hundred glasses of different colors. Therefore, everyone sees the world in d... MUDITHA CHAMPIKA Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. We all are wearing many hundred glasses of different colors. So, everyone see the world in different... MUDITHA CHAMPIKA We should not blame people by the mistakes of others. DANIEL MELGAçO You must save what you can of your life; you musn't lose it all simply because you've lost a part. HENRY JAMES One thing we have lost, that we had in the past, is a sense of progress, that things are getting bet... DANIEL KAHNEMAN Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it. POPE JOHN PAUL II Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war, on... POPE JOHN PAUL II Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry a... POPE JOHN PAUL II Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they are fought and therefore... prove ultimate... POPE JOHN PAUL II I kiss the soil as if I placed a kiss on the hands of a mother, for the homeland is our earthly moth... POPE JOHN PAUL II The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a pro... POPE JOHN PAUL II From now on it is only through a conscious choice and through a deliberate policy that humanity can ... POPE JOHN PAUL II Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song. POPE JOHN PAUL II An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded. POPE JOHN PAUL II Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it. POPE JOHN PAUL II The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and ... POPE JOHN PAUL II Today, for the first time in history, a Bishop of Rome sets foot on English soil. This fair land, on... POPE JOHN PAUL II Pervading nationalism imposes its dominion on man today in many different forms and with an aggressi... POPE JOHN PAUL II The historical experience of socialist countries has sadly demonstrated that collectivism does not d... POPE JOHN PAUL II To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the... POPE JOHN PAUL II Young people are threatened... by the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural ... POPE JOHN PAUL II When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law e... POPE JOHN PAUL II You will reciprocally promise love, loyalty and matrimonial honesty. We only want for you this day t... POPE JOHN PAUL II The future starts today, not tomorrow. POPE JOHN PAUL II The unworthy successor of Peter who desires to benefit from the immeasurable wealth of Christ feels ... POPE JOHN PAUL II Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create. POPE JOHN PAUL II Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and b... POPE JOHN PAUL II The United Nations organization has proclaimed 1979 as the Year of the Child. Are the children to re... POPE JOHN PAUL II Violence and arms can never resolve the problems of men. POPE JOHN PAUL II Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, ther... POPE JOHN PAUL II There are people and nations, Mother, that I would like to say to you by name. I entrust them to you... POPE JOHN PAUL II I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin. POPE JOHN PAUL II Orion is above the horizon now, and near it Jupiter, brighter than it will ever be ... But i expect ... THOMAS HARRIS The scars of others should teach us caution. ST. JEROME They talk like angels but they live like men. ST. JEROME Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not... SAINT AUGUSTINE The most High approveth not the gifts of the wicked. SAINT PATRICK I see that already in this present world I am exalted above measure by the Lord. And I was not worth... SAINT PATRICK He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presen... SAINT PATRICK I was freeborn according to the flesh; I am born of a father who was a decurion, but I sold my noble... SAINT PATRICK I have had the good fortune through my God that I should never abandon his people whom I have acquir... SAINT PATRICK The Lord discovered to me a sense of my unbelief that, though late, I should remember my transgressi... SAINT PATRICK Let who will scoff and revile - I will not remain silent; neither will I conceal the signs and wonde... SAINT PATRICK I only seek in my old age to perfect that which I had not before thoroughly learned in my youth, bec... SAINT PATRICK I have a Creator who knew all things, even before they were made - even me, his poor little child. SAINT PATRICK I have vowed to my God to teach the heathen, though I be despised by some. SAINT PATRICK No one should ever say that it was my ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small acco... SAINT PATRICK The Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart, so that I should recall my sins. SAINT PATRICK It was not any grace in me, but God that put this earnest care into my heart, that I should be one o... SAINT PATRICK Sufficient for me is that honour which is not seen of men but is felt in the heart, as faithful is H... SAINT PATRICK Before I was humiliated I was like a stone that lies in deep mud, and he who is mighty came and in h... SAINT PATRICK I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of ... SAINT PATRICK The Lord is greater than all: I have said enough. SAINT PATRICK Among the many signs of a lively faith and hope we have in eternal life, one of the surest is not be... SAINT IGNATIUS I can love a person in this life only insofar as he tries to advance in the praise and service of Go... SAINT IGNATIUS Some indeed have tears naturally, when the higher motion of the soul makes itself felt in the lower,... SAINT IGNATIUS The principal end both of my father and of myself in the conquest of India... has been the propagati... SAINT IGNATIUS We should love the body insofar as it is obedient and helpful to the soul, since the soul, with the ... SAINT IGNATIUS We should always be disposed to believe that that which appears white is really black, if the hierar... SAINT IGNATIUS It is one thing to be eloquent and charming in profane speech, and another when the one speaking as ... SAINT IGNATIUS Remember that bodily exercise, when it is well ordered, as I have said, is also prayer by means of w... SAINT IGNATIUS In the light of the Divine Goodness, it seems to me, though others may think differently, that ingra... SAINT IGNATIUS Occupy yourself in beholding and bewailing your own imperfections rather than contemplating the impe... SAINT IGNATIUS Be generous to the poor orphans and those in need. The man to whom our Lord has been liberal ought n... SAINT IGNATIUS Teach us to give and not to count the cost. SAINT IGNATIUS In the fallen there is danger of pride and vainglory, since they prefer their own judgment to the ju... SAINT IGNATIUS May God our Lord never let me harm anyone when I cannot help him! SAINT IGNATIUS True, I am in love with suffering, but I do not know if I deserve the honor. SAINT IGNATIUS May the perfect grace and eternal love of Christ our Lord be our never-failing protection and help. SAINT IGNATIUS For those who love, nothing is too difficult, especially when it is done for the love of our Lord Je... SAINT IGNATIUS If God has given you the world's goods in abundance, it is to help you gain those of Heaven and ... SAINT IGNATIUS Knowledge is sometimes superfluous: when we need it, we have it not. SAINT BERNARD For every benefit conferred, God is to be praised in his gifts. Otherwise when the time of judgment ... SAINT BERNARD Custom turns everything upside down. Give it time, and what can resist its hardening effect? What do... SAINT BERNARD Charity never lacks what is her own, all that she needs for her own security. Not alone does she hav... SAINT BERNARD I was made a sinner by deriving my being from Adam; I am made just by being washed in the blood of C... SAINT BERNARD The impudence of the sinner displeases God as much as the modesty of the penitent gives him pleasure... SAINT BERNARD A man who prides himself on being better than his fellow-men thinks it a disgrace if he does not do ... SAINT BERNARD Keep to the middle if you wish to keep moderation. The mid way is the safe way. Moderation abides in... SAINT BERNARD Humility is a good estate; founded thereon, the whole spiritual edifice grows into a holy temple in ... SAINT BERNARD That heart alone is hard which does not shudder at itself for not feeling its hardness. SAINT BERNARD There are people who go clad in tunics and have nothing to do with furs, who nevertheless are lackin... SAINT BERNARD You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason... SAINT BERNARD I myself, however wretched I may be, have been occasionally privileged to sit at the feet of the Lor... SAINT BERNARD Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you want is not a sceptre, but a... SAINT BERNARD Christian, learn from Christ how you ought to love Christ. Learn a love that is tender, wise, strong... SAINT BERNARD In truth, opinion may be taken for understanding; understanding cannot be taken for opinion. How so?... SAINT BERNARD Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not be an endless preoccupation. You must dwell al... SAINT BERNARD God removes the sin of the one who makes humble confession, and thereby the devil loses the sovereig... SAINT BERNARD We seek for truth in ourselves; in our neighbours, and in its essential nature. We find it first in ... SAINT BERNARD I believe though I do not comprehend, and I hold by faith what I cannot grasp with the mind. SAINT BERNARD Among irrational animals the love of the offspring and of the parents for each other is extraordinar... SAINT BASIL The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice enqu... SAINT BASIL There is nothing unpremeditated, nothing neglected by God. His unsleeping eye beholds all things. SAINT BASIL
More G.K. Chesterton
Divinity is great enough to be divine; it is great enough to call itself divine. But as humanity gro... G.K. CHESTERTON Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists... G.K. CHESTERTON Are you a devil?" "I am a man," answered Father Brown gravely; "and therefore have all devils i... G.K. CHESTERTON For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy. G.K. CHESTERTON The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untr... G.K. CHESTERTON The criminal is the creative artist; the detective only the critic. G.K. CHESTERTON Who would condescend to strike down the mere things that he does not fear? Who would debase him... G.K. CHESTERTON If we are bound to improve, we need not trouble to improve. The pure doctrine of progress is the bes... G.K. CHESTERTON Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long a... G.K. CHESTERTON The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally t... G.K. CHESTERTON Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. G.K. CHESTERTON The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. G.K. CHESTERTON We men and women are all in the same boat, upon a stormy sea. We owe to each other a terrible and tr... G.K. CHESTERTON If you happen to read fairy tales, you will observe that one idea runs from one end of them to the o... G.K. CHESTERTON There is the great lesson of 'Beauty and the Beast,' that a thing must be loved before it is lovable... G.K. CHESTERTON Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy ... G.K. CHESTERTON An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wron... G.K. CHESTERTON I am not absentminded. It is the presence of mind that makes me unaware of everything else. G.K. CHESTERTON A tragey means always a man's struggle with that which is stronger than man. G.K. CHESTERTON Realism is simply Romanticism that has lost its reason...that is its reason for existing. G.K. CHESTERTON The word "good" has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of... G.K. CHESTERTON There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing. G.K. CHESTERTON Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel. G.K. CHESTERTON Now the best relation to our spiritual home is to be near enough to love it. But the next best is to... G.K. CHESTERTON Science must not impose any philosophy, any more than the telephone must tell us what to say. G.K. CHESTERTON There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to de... G.K. CHESTERTON We do not need to get good laws to restrain bad people. We need to get good people to restrain us fr... G.K. CHESTERTON We have all read in scientific books, and, indeed, in all romances, the story of the man who has for... G.K. CHESTERTON A pickpocket is obviously a champion of private enterprise. But it would perhaps be an exaggeration ... G.K. CHESTERTON Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable. G.K. CHESTERTON Nine times out of ten a man’s broad-mindedness is necessarily the narrowest thing about him. This ... G.K. CHESTERTON We have never even begun to understand a people until we have found something that we do not underst... G.K. CHESTERTON Through all this ordeal his root horror had been isolation, and there are no words to express the ab... G.K. CHESTERTON There are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to... G.K. CHESTERTON White is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as de... G.K. CHESTERTON The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is b... G.K. CHESTERTON They said that I should lose my ideals and begin to believe in the methods of practical politicians.... G.K. CHESTERTON Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate. G.K. CHESTERTON The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, and al... G.K. CHESTERTON Just at present you only see the tree by the light of the lamp. I wonder when you would ever see the... G.K. CHESTERTON If it's worth doing, it's worth doing badly.
(on not perfectionism
to put things off)
. G.K CHESTERTON An adventure is only an inconvenience, rightly considered. G.K CHESTERTON Angels fly because they take themselves lightly. G.K CHESTERTON I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of
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advice, and then going away and do... G.K CHESTERTON How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you
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Death, disease, insanity, are merely material accide... G.K. CHESTERTON I had tried to be happy by telling myself that man is an animal, like any other which sought its mea... G.K. CHESTERTON [Fairy tales] make rivers run with wine only to make us remember, for one wild moment, that they run... G.K. CHESTERTON That a good man may have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already, but that God could ha... G.K. CHESTERTON If Innocent is happy, it is because he is innocent. If he can defy the conventions, it is just becau... G.K. CHESTERTON There is something sinister about putting a leprechaun in a workhouse. The only solid comfort is tha... G.K. CHESTERTON Man may behold what ugliness he likes if he is sure that he will not worship it; but there are some ... G.K. CHESTERTON If we are calm," replied the policeman, "it is the calm of organized resistance." "Eh?" said Sy... G.K. CHESTERTON Do not be proud of the fact that your grandmother was shocked at something which your are accustomed... G.K. CHESTERTON As long as the vision of heaven is always changing, the vision of earth will be exactly the same. No... G.K. CHESTERTON I mean that we here are on the wrong side of the tapestry,' answered Father Brown. 'The things that ... G.K. CHESTERTON How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win. G.K. CHESTERTON The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens... G.K. CHESTERTON No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for edu... G.K. CHESTERTON A man's minor actions and arrangements ought to be free, flexible, creative; the things that should ... G.K. CHESTERTON A detective story generally describes six living men discussing how it is that a man is dead. A mode... G.K. CHESTERTON These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own. G.K. CHESTERTON There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people. G.K. CHESTERTON Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, b... G.K. CHESTERTON There is a limit to human charity," said Lady Outram, trembling all over. "There is," sai... G.K. CHESTERTON He wondered why the pelican was the symbol of charity, except it was that it wanted a good deal of c... G.K. CHESTERTON Charity is the power of defending that which we know to be indefensible. Hope is the power of being ... G.K. CHESTERTON We do not admire, we hardly excuse, the fanatic who wrecks this world for love of the other. But wha... G.K. CHESTERTON Dear Sir: Regarding your article 'What's Wrong with the World?' I am. Yours truly, G.K. CHESTERTON There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions. G.K. CHESTERTON We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practica... G.K. CHESTERTON He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's wha... G.K. CHESTERTON If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. G.K. CHESTERTON The first two facts which a healthy boy or girl feels about sex are these: first that it is beautifu... G.K. CHESTERTON I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles. G.K. CHESTERTON My country, right or wrong,” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperat... G.K. CHESTERTON The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. G.K. CHESTERTON Can you not see, […] that fairy tales in their essence are quite solid and straightforward; but th... G.K. CHESTERTON the things common to all men are more important than the things peculiar to any men. Ordinary things... G.K. CHESTERTON