We must have several word-signs," said Syme seriously -- "words that we are likely to want, fine shades of meaning. My favourite word is 'coeval.' What's yours?" "Do stop playing the goat," said the Professor plaintively. "You don't know how serious this is." "'Lush,' too, " said Syme, shaking his head sagaciously, "we must have ' lush' -- word applied to grass, don't you know?" "Do you imagine," asked the Professor furiously, "that we are going to talk to Dr. Bull about grass?" "There are several ways in which the subject could be approached," said Syme reflectively, "and the word introduced without appearing forced. We might say, ' Dr. Bull, as a revolutionist, you remember that a tyrant once advised us to eat grass; and indeed many of us, looking on the fresh lush grass of summer--"' "Do you understand," said the other, "that this is a tragedy?" "Perfectly," replied Syme; "always be comic in a tragedy. What the deuce else can you do? I wish this language of yours had a wider scope. I suppose we could not extend it from the fingers to the toes? That would involve pulling off our boots and socks during the conversation, which however unobtrusively performed -- " "Syme," said his friend with a stern simplicity, "go to bed!
G.K. Chesterton
Related What are we going to do?" asked the Professor. "At this moment," said Syme, with a scientific d... G.K. CHESTERTON I shall approach. Before taking off his hat, I shall take off my own. I shall say, "The Marquis de S... G.K. CHESTERTON As I said, you have mistaken me for another. London is full of drab little peahens, sir. Now, then, ... CHARLOTTE FEATHERSTONE If we are calm," replied the policeman, "it is the calm of organized resistance." "Eh?" said Sy... G.K. CHESTERTON The others can’t see me,” said the little ghost. “I know,” I said. “My name’s... KERSTIN GIER I wouldn't do that," Silk advised. "Thinking about it isn't going to help, and it's only going to ma... DAVID EDDINGS You say I am repeating Something I have said before. I shall say it again. Shall I say it... T.S. ELIOT Donneven," I said, in my best Monica imitation, and he laughed. "We're not talking about me." "... SARAH DESSEN Good Morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But G... J.R.R. TOLKIEN As the cheering continued, Rhyme leaned forward and touched Milo gently on the shoulder. "The... NORTON JUSTER Professor Moody!" said a shocked voice. Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble stairca... J.K. ROWLING I lied," I said. ... "I know it," he said. "Then do something about it. Do anything, just ... WILLIAM FAULKNER Song of myself A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How cou... WALT WHITMAN Why do we have to do this in the middle of the night?” Taylor asked. “Because we don’t wa... MICHAEL GRANT Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion. "I am dying of thirst," said Jill. "Then drink," said... C.S. LEWIS The word "lesson" came back to Pooh as one he had heard before somewhere. "There's a thing cal... A.A. MILNE You," I said, "have this whole tall, dark stranger thing going on. Not to mention the tortured artis... SARAH DESSEN If you love someone you must set them free like the wind and give them the respect they deserve.If y... GARY F EVANS... My fault? How the hell is this"--I waved my arm across the table-- my fault?" "You... BARBRA ANNINO And we saved your life, y’know,” Andrew said, jerking his head in Oliver’s direction. “I mea... ZEINAB ALAYAN You said he was a perfectly adequate lover." "Perfectly adequate? I dont suppose I ever s... AMY ANDREWS Everyone always thinks they're the good guys,' said Ruby. 'Yes they do,' said LB. 'But happily ... LAUREN CHILD There is a plain under a dim sky. It is covered with gentle rolling curves that might remind you of ... TERRY PRATCHETT I had a dream about you. We were in the gold room where everyone finally gets what they want. RICHARD SIKEN Do you have a Wish?' he asked, referring to this organization, The Genie Foundation, which is in the... JOHN GREEN (Frances has gotten out of bed again and come to her parents' room...) 'How can the wind have a... RUSSELL HOBAN A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child... WALT WHITMAN We should get a move on you know... ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a ... J.K. ROWLING America, my love, you are sunlight falling through trees. You are laughter that breaks through sadne... KIERA CASS Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," said George. "What do you mean, 'tried'?" sa... J.K. ROWLING We could go back," he said. In the dome light of the car, his face looked hard as stone. "We could g... CHARLAINE HARRIS And recite to them the news of Abraham When he said to his father and his people: What do you ... QURAN Daniel, he said. I would have you follow me. Master!....I will fight for you to the end!.... ELIZABETH GEORGE SPEARE How do we get there? How did you get here, by the way?' [Will asked]. He heard Halt's dee... JOHN FLANAGAN ...You want to know whether the problems that you teenagers feel—will they follow you over the res... MEG WOLITZER I just shook my head, knowing this was him evading the question. You," I said, "have this whole... SARAH DESSEN There is still one of which you never speak.' Marco Polo bowed his head. 'Veni... ITALO CALVINO Good heavens, I suppose a man may eat his own muffins in his own garden." "But you have just sa... OSCAR WILDE Many bad things were done under the Evil Empire" she said. "The best we can do now is undo them. Wil... TERRY PRATCHETT Hello, Professor McGonagall,” said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher. “What �... J.K. ROWLING But we are running out of colors," said Mr. Violet, intervening. "That cannot be the case," sai... TERRY PRATCHETT May I see you again?" he asked. There was an endearing nervousness in his voice. I smile... JOHN GREEN We already have the Wooden Pillar, the Steel Pillar and the Plastic Pillar. In a moment we will have... DOUGLAS ADAMS If you are eager to find the reason I became the Kvothe they tell stories about, you could look ther... PATRICK ROTHFUSS I've barely said five words to you. What indication could you possibly have that I am a Yankee?" JANA DELEON Not everything is about you," Clary said furiously. "Possibly," Jace said, "but you do have to ... CASSANDRA CLARE Some toy you give,” he said, gritty-voiced, and now the two tears in the corners of his eyes began... V.C. ANDREWS I am Shiloh, whose box you stole. Your godmother's sickness lies in your own keeping, you can heal h... A.E. COPPARD «Hazel Grace,” he said, my name new and better in his voice. “It has been a real pleasure to ma... JOHN GREEN Honestly," I said. What?" Come on. You have to admit it's sort of ridiculous." What i... SARAH DESSEN I'm sorry,' said the shopkeeper. 'I can't understand your ridiculous accent.' 'My accent?' DEREK LANDY What is it you’re interested in exactly?” the man asked slowly. “Just the color?” ... RICHELLE MEAD He shook his head. You're asking that I make myself vulnerable and that I can never do. I have only ... CORMAC MCCARTHY (You do not have to be shamed in my closeness. Family are the people who must never make you feel as... JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER Dad?" Jesus asked. "Yes, son?" God replied. "Why do birds sing?" Jesus asked. "Birds ... ANTHONY T. HINCKS Ironic, isn’t it?” Shawn said. “It’s not ironic at all,” Gus said. “Dude, it�... WILLIAM RABKIN Doran stood on the dais, fists clenched. "All right," he said. "Let's do it, come on. Charge me up."... DEREK LANDY Qualities of a Good Nurse: Go," I said. "1. Doesn't pun on your disability," Isaac said.<... JOHN GREEN Like you and me," said Jade. "How we used to be." "What do you mean? Crazy?" "... SCOTT SPENCER Where am I?" Magnus croaked. "Nazca." "Oh, so we went on a little trip." "You broke i... CASSANDRA CLARE Can I just point something out?" Fletcher asked. "That is an awful plan. On a scale of one ... DEREK LANDY He is not a tame lion," said Tirian. "How should we know what he would do? We, who are murderers. Je... C.S. LEWIS Look. We both know life is short, Macy. Too short to waste a single second with anyone who doesn't a... SARAH DESSEN Do you think you might be able to love me someday?" He asked and heard her laugh softly. ... JASMINE DUBROFF We can't lose you," she said after a few moments of awkward as hell silence. "You have to understand... JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT Macy: “In Truth,” I said, “there are no rules other than you have to tell the truth.” W... SARAH DESSEN How much do you have in common with this guy?" "Not much. Basically we're polar opposites.... LISA KLEYPAS If I were to be made a knight," said the Wart, staring dreamily into the fire, "I should insist on d... T.H. WHITE Well?" said Loki. "What about you, Heimdall? Do you have any suggestions?" "I do," said Heimdal... NEIL GAIMAN What are my options?" "You could read obscure poetry while I play the triangle, I suppose. Or w... MICHELLE HODKIN Do you think it will always be this way?” “What?” “I mean, when do we start feelin... BENJAMIN ALIRE SáENZ Tu-whoo! Ahem! Lord Regent," said the Owl, stooping down a little and holding its beak near the Dwar... C.S. LEWIS Cats don’t have names,” it said. “No?” said Coraline. “No,” said t... NEIL GAIMAN I had to stop him from arresting an old lady who let her dog urinate against the fire hydrant that w... LEE GOLDBERG And out floated Eeyore. "Eeyore!" cried everybody. Looking very calm, very dignified, wi... A.A. MILNE I think we must only a few of us go," Laurence said, low. "I will take a few volunteers - " NAOMI NOVIK Eros mumbled something. "I'm sorry?" said Aphrodite. "Whatwouldjesusdo." "What would ... MARIE PHILLIPS Eventually, my grandfather said: - You must understand, this is one of those moments. - W... TéA OBREHT How are the Indians on cats?" "I never saw one. Plenty of dogs, though." "They eat the dog... PHILIPP MEYER Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name... LEWIS CARROLL If we all look at life we think how nice, then we look at death and everybody goes oh you can say th... GARY F EVANS... How would it be," she asked them coldly as they left the classroom [Prof Binns, History subject], "i... J.K. ROWLING Hey,” Watney said over the radio, “I've got an idea.” “Of course you do,” Lewis said.... ANDY WEIR When God Created Mothers" When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth ... ERMA BOMBECK So?” Clary said. (After she Marked Alec with the Fearless rune.) “So what?” Alec rolled h... CASSANDRA CLARE When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose i... LEWIS CARROLL When I finished, Dr. Fellows said, "And this was a vision you had Corey?" "Right." "Ar... KELLEY ARMSTRONG It’s not the word that’s important, it’s the right to say any word you want to and to form any... ARUN D. ELLIS Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?' 'Hmm . . . What do you think, Harry?' said Luna, l... J.K. ROWLING What are you thinking of so earnestly?" said he, as they walked back to the ballroom; "not of your p... JANE AUSTEN You think too much," Lucas said to me on the banks of the White River the next day. "I think to... JOHN COREY WHALEY It's hard to know what's right in this life,' she said. 'We do what we can, but what we really need ... VERONICA ROTH ...Recognising, as I do, that you are the second highest expert in Europe--" "Indeed, sir! May ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselv... J.K. ROWLING Do you really want to know why you lost?” I asked. “Do you really have an answer?” he cou... MARIA V. SNYDER You don’t understand,” my dad said. “They stop you.” “Who? What are you talkin... CRISTINA HENRIQUEZ Dad?" Jesus asked. "Yes, son?" God asked. "Why do people get sick?" Jesus asked. "Whe... ANTHONY T. HINCKS Of course we still want to know you!" Harry said, staring at Hagrid. "You don't think anything ... J.K. ROWLING You must forgive my Hunters if they do not welcome you," Artemis said. "It is very rare that we woul... RICK RIORDAN There was a few seconds' pause. Then Amit said: I meant, what were you thinking just now. VIKRAM SETH
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
committees. G.K CHESTERTON I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best
advice, and then going away and do... G.K CHESTERTON How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you
win. G.K CHESTERTON To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labours, and holidays; to be... G.K. CHESTERTON In prosperity, our friends know us. In adversity, we know our friends G.K. CHESTERTON Happiness is a state of the soul; a state in which our natures are full of the wine of an ancient yo... G.K. CHESTERTON Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they... G.K. CHESTERTON Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable. Never drink when you are wretched ... G.K. CHESTERTON The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion. G.K. CHESTERTON I left the fairy tales lying on the floor of the nursery, and I have not found any books so sensible... G.K. CHESTERTON Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is r... G.K. CHESTERTON Therefore I see no wrong in riding with the Nightmare to-night; she whinnies to me from the rocking ... G.K. CHESTERTON Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad... G.K. CHESTERTON The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinar... G.K. CHESTERTON Another savage trait of our time is the disposition to talk about material substances instead of abo... G.K. CHESTERTON Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relat... G.K. CHESTERTON According to most philosophers, God in making the world enslaved it. According to Christianity, in m... G.K. CHESTERTON Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions. G.K. CHESTERTON A Second Childhood.” When all my days are ending And I have no song to sing, ... G.K. 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CHESTERTON Modern art has to be what is called ‘intense.’ it is not easy to define being intense; but, roug... G.K. CHESTERTON It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged. 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 But when first the two black dragons sprang out of the fog upon the small clerk, they had merely th... G.K. CHESTERTON Monotony has nothing to do with a place; monotony, either in its sensation or its infliction, is sim... G.K. CHESTERTON Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously. G.K. CHESTERTON The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. G.K. CHESTERTON A woman uses her intelligence to find reasons to support her intuition. G.K. CHESTERTON There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. G.K. CHESTERTON When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are ... G.K. CHESTERTON If there were no God, there would be no atheists. G.K. CHESTERTON I have little doubt that when St. George had killed the dragon he was heartily afraid of the princes... G.K. CHESTERTON The woman does not work because the man tells her to work and she obeys. On the contrary, the woman ... G.K. CHESTERTON And as I close this chaotic volume I open again the strange small book from which all Christianity c... G.K. CHESTERTON In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless... G.K. CHESTERTON I wish we could sometimes love the characters in real life as we love the characters in romances. Th... G.K. CHESTERTON That is the one eternal education: to be sure enough that something is true that you dare to tell it... G.K. CHESTERTON The man who kills a man kills a man. The man who kills himself kills all men. 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CHESTERTON Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. G.K. CHESTERTON It may well be on such a night of clouds and cruel colors that there is brought forth upon the earth... G.K. CHESTERTON It was his home now. But it could not be his home till he had gone from it and returned to it. Now h... G.K. CHESTERTON The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar. G.K. CHESTERTON A man must be prepared not only to be a martyr, but to be a fool. It is absurd to say that a man is ... G.K. CHESTERTON Every man has forgotten who he is. One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is mor... G.K. CHESTERTON The modern mind is forced towards the future by a certain sense of fatigue, not unmixed with terror,... G.K. CHESTERTON People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read mor... G.K. CHESTERTON Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money... G.K. CHESTERTON All the towering materialism which dominates the modern mind rests ultimately upon one assumption; a... G.K. CHESTERTON The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and ... G.K. CHESTERTON The difference between the poet and the mathematician is that the poet tries to get his head into th... G.K. CHESTERTON Coincidences are spiritual puns. G.K. CHESTERTON This man's spiritual power has been precisely this, that he has distinguished between custom and cre... G.K. CHESTERTON There again," said Syme irritably, "what is there poetical about being in revolt? You might as well ... G.K. CHESTERTON The most poetical thing in the world is not being sick. G.K. CHESTERTON The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul... G.K. CHESTERTON The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul... G.K. CHESTERTON Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity. G.K. CHESTERTON I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness double... G.K. CHESTERTON ...but this is the real objection to that torrent of modern talk about treating crime as disease, ab... G.K. CHESTERTON Think of all those ages through which men have had the courage to die, and then remember that we hav... G.K. CHESTERTON Thrift is poetic because it is creative; waste is unpoetic because it is waste. G.K. CHESTERTON The future is a blank wall on which every man can write his own name as large as he likes; the past ... G.K. CHESTERTON The more truly we can see life as a fairytale, the more clearly the tale resolves itself into war wi... G.K. CHESTERTON It is quite easy to see why a legend is treated, and ought to be treated, more respectfully than a b... G.K. CHESTERTON I always like a dog so long as he isn't spelled backward. G.K. CHESTERTON She(Joan of Arc) put her dreams and her sentiment into her aims, where they ought to be; she put her... G.K. CHESTERTON In the glad old days, before the rise of modern morbidities...it used to be thought a disadvantage t... G.K. CHESTERTON Modern tragic writers have to write short stories; if they wrote long stories…cheerfulness would c... G.K. CHESTERTON The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost. G.K. CHESTERTON To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it. G.K. CHESTERTON ... just as when we see a pig in a litter larger than the other pigs, we know that by an unalterable... G.K. CHESTERTON And it did certainly appear that the prophets had put the people (engaged in the old game of Cheat t... G.K. CHESTERTON Then the small man suddenly ran after them and said: "I want to get my haircut. I say, do you k... G.K. 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CHESTERTON There are, I believe, some who still deny that England is governed by an oligarchy. It is quite enou... G.K. CHESTERTON But of all the instances of error arising from this physical fancy, the worst is that we have before... G.K. CHESTERTON Thrift is the really romantic thing; economy is more romantic than extravagance... But the thing is ... G.K. CHESTERTON A head can be beaten small enough until it fits the hat. G.K. CHESTERTON No one has even begun to understand comradeship who does not accept with it a certain hearty eagerne... G.K. CHESTERTON No one has even begun to understand comradeship who does not accept with it a certain hearty eagerne... G.K. CHESTERTON Men have not got tired of Christianity; they have never found enough Christianity to get tired of. M... G.K. CHESTERTON It is very currently suggested that the modern man is the heir of all the ages, that he has got the ... G.K. CHESTERTON Thrift is poetic because it is creative. G.K. CHESTERTON The chicken does not exist only in order to produce another egg. He may also exist to amuse himself,... G.K. CHESTERTON No man demands what he desires; each man demands what he fancies he can get. Soon people forget what... G.K. CHESTERTON There is not really any courage at all in attacking hoary or antiquated things, any more than in off... G.K. CHESTERTON When a man really tells the truth, the first truth he tells is that he himself is a liar. G.K. CHESTERTON In all legends men have thought of women as sublime separately but horrible in a herd. G.K. CHESTERTON All true friendliness begins with fire and food and drink and the recognition of rain or frost. ...E... G.K. CHESTERTON Babies need not to be taught a trade, but to be introduced to a world. To put the matter shortly, wo... G.K. CHESTERTON An historic institution, which never went right, is really quite much of a miracle as an institution... G.K. CHESTERTON As for the general view that the Church was discredited by the War—they might as well say that the... G.K. CHESTERTON The paradise of my fancy is one where pigs have wings G.K. CHESTERTON ..."vers libre," (free verse) or nine-tenths of it, is not a new metre any more than sleeping in a d... G.K. CHESTERTON I do not deny, but strongly affirm, the right of the State to interfere to cure a great evil. I say ... G.K. CHESTERTON To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. G.K. CHESTERTON If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ... G.K. CHESTERTON It is quite certain that the skirt means female dignity, not female submission; it can be proved by ... G.K. CHESTERTON On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the... G.K. CHESTERTON The center of every man's existence is a dream. 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