Home › Authors › G. K. Chesterton
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
We are talking about an artist; and for the enjoyment of the artist the mask must be to some extent moulded on the face. What he makes outside him must correspond to something inside him; he can only make his effects out of some of the materials of his soul.
The Dagger with Wings (1926)
But when first the two black dragons sprang out of the fog upon the small clerk, they had merely the effect of all miracles – they changed the universe. He discovered the fact that all romantics know – that adventures happen on dull days, and not on sunny ones. When the cord of monotony is stretched most tight, it it breaks with a sound like song.
'Look here, doctor; you know me pretty well; I think you know I'm not a bigot. You know I know there are all sorts in all religions; good men in bad ones and bad men in good ones.
The Dagger with Wings (1926)
Ireland is a country in which the political conflicts are at least genuine; they are about something. They are about patriotism, about religion, or about money: the three great realities. In other words, they are concerned with what commonwealth a man lives in, or with what universe a man lives in, or with how he is to manage to live in either.
George Bernard Shaw (1909)
A beetle may or may not be inferior to a man — the matter awaits demonstration; but if he were inferior by ten thousand fathoms, the fact remains that there is probably a beetle view of things of which a man is entirely ignorant. If he wishes to conceive that point of view, he will scarcely reach it by persistently revelling in the fact that he is not a beetle.
The Defendant (1901)
It seems to me clear that Thor was not a god at all but a hero. Nothing resembling a religion would picture anybodying resembling a god as groping like a pigmy in a great cavern, that turned out to be the glove of a giant. That is the glorious ignorance called adventure. Thor may have been a great adventurer; but to call him a god is like trying to compare Jehovah with Jack and the Beanstalk.
The Everlasting Man (1925)
The poor object to being governed badly, while the rich object to being governed at all.
Attributed Grace at the Table: Ending Hunger in God's World (1999)
When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing — they believe in anything.
Misattributed
A man knocking on the door of a brothel is looking for God.
Misattributed
A man can never quite understand a boy, even when he has been the boy.
Misattributed
Moral issues are always terribly complex for someone without principles.
Misattributed
A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame and money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well.
Attributed
Q: What's wrong with the world? A: I am.
Misattributed
A modern man may disapprove of some of his sweeping reforms, and approve others; but finds it difficult not to admire even where he does not approve.
Attributed
A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.
Misattributed
Never invoke the gods unless you really want them to appear. It annoys them very much.
Attributed The Sleep of Trees (1980)
An open mind is really a mark of foolishness, like an open mouth. Mouths and minds were made to shut; they were made to open only in order to shut.
Misattributed
I've searched all the parks in all the cities — and found no statues of Committees.
Attributed Trust Or Consequences: Build Trust Today Or Lose Your Market Tomorrow (2004)
Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up.
Misattributed
Topics G. K. Chesterton is quoted on
Works