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G. K. Chesterton Quotes

1874–1936 England

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was a British writer whose prolific and diverse output included works of philosophy, ontology, poetry, play writing, journalism, public lecturing and debating, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics (particularly for Catholicism), and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction. He has been called the "prince of paradox".

England
Autobiographers
Conservatives
Critics
Essayists

Also known as: Chesterton, Chesterton, G. K., Chesterton, Gilbert Keith, G K Chesterton, G.K. Chesterton, GK Chesterton

Random G. K. Chesterton quote

299 quotes

The humorous look of children is perhaps the most endearing of all the bonds that hold the Cosmos together.

The Defendant (1901)

Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance.

Briefly, you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.

There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.

Charles Dickens (1906)

The truth is that it is our attitude towards children that is right, and our attitude towards grown-up people that is wrong.

The Defendant (1901)

Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.

The thing that cannot be defined is the first thing; the primary fact.

Charles Dickens (1906)

The big commercial concerns of to-day are quite exceptionally incompetent. They will be even more incompetent when they are omnipotent.

Utopia of Usurers (1917)

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

Alarms and Discursions (1910)

When some English moralists write about the importance of having character, they appear to mean only the importance of having a dull character.

Charles Dickens (1906)

The new community which the capitalists are now constructing will be a very complete and absolute community; and one which will tolerate nothing really independent of itself.

Utopia of Usurers (1917)

Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

A Short History of England (1917)

It is precisely because an ideal is necessary to man that the man without ideals is in permanent danger of fanaticism.

Heretics (1905)

A mystic is a man who separates heaven and earth even if he enjoys them both.

William Blake (1920)

The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.

Tremendous Trifles (1909)

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

Atheism is, I suppose, the supreme example of a simple faith.

Where All Roads Lead (1922)

The rich are the scum of the earth in every country.

The Flying Inn (1914)

If there were not God, there would be no atheists.

Where All Roads Lead (1922)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: G. K. Chesterton (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.