I don’t deny,” he said, “that there should be priests to remind men that they will one day die. I only say that at certain strange epochs it is necessary to have another kind of priests, called poets, actually to remind men that they are not dead yet.
GILBERT K. CHESTERTONA child’s instinct is almost perfect in the matter of fighting. The child’s hero is always the man or boy who defends himself suddenly and splendidly against aggression.
More Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes
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Truth can understand error, but error cannot understand truth.
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There are some desires that are not desirable.
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At the back of our brains is a blaze of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life is to dig for this sunrise of wonder.
GILBERT K. CHESTERTON -
Only man can be absurd: for only man can be dignified.
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There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner.
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I don’t need a church to tell me I’m wrong where I already know I’m wrong; I need a Church to tell me I’m wrong where I think I’m right
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Paradox – Truth standing on her head to get attention.
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One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.
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People talk of the pathos and failure of plain women; but it is a more terrible thing that a beautiful woman may succeed in everything but womanhood.
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There cannot be a nation of millionaires, and there never has been a nation of Utopian comrades; but there have been any number of nations of tolerably contented peasants.
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I never could see anything wrong in sensationalism; and I am sure our society is suffering more from secrecy than from flamboyant revelations.
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Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.
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A crown of roses is also a crown of thorns.
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It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted and only a few things forbidden.
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Very few reputations are gained by unsullied virtue.
GILBERT K. CHESTERTON