Those thinkers who cannot believe in any gods often assert that the love of humanity would be in itself sufficient for them; and so, perhaps, it would, if they had it. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
No man who worships education has got the best out of education… Without a gentle contempt for education no man’s education is complete. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
There is but an inch of difference between a cushioned chamber and a padded cell. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
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? – Gilbert K. Chesterton
What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
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. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
The whole order of things is as outrageous as any miracle which could presume to violate it. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
There is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
The vulgar man is always the most distinguished, for the very desire to be distinguished is vulgar. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
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 that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
All architecture is great architecture after sunset; perhaps architecture is really a nocturnal art, like the art of fireworks. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
Youth is the period in which a man can be hopeless. The end of every episode is the end of the world. But the power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration comes to the middle-aged. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
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. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. – Gilbert K. Chesterton
