Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

• The problem of disbelieving in God is not that a man ends up believing nothing. Alas, it is much worse. He ends up believing anything.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Believe, Men, Problem

  116 Copy quote

• Jesus promised his disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Jesus, Fearless, Church

  101 Copy quote

• To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Love, Inspirational, Success

  1927 Copy quote

• Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Believe, People, Tolerance

  185 Copy quote

• The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Life, Hate, Passion

  181 Copy quote

• The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Business, Mistake, Political

  "The Illustrated London News" Magazine, 1924.

  91 Copy quote

• A dead thing goes with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Faith, Moral, Sanity

  89 Copy quote

• A society is in decay, final or transitional, when common sense really becomes uncommon.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Faith, Inspiration, Common Sense

  77 Copy quote

• It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Knowledge, Complaining, Absurd

  "St. Thomas Aquinas". Book by G.K. Chesterton, 1933.

  187 Copy quote

• Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Fall, Brain, Open Minded

  112 Copy quote

• God is like the sun; you cannot look at it, but without it you cannot look at anything else.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Inspirational, Looks, Sun

  214 Copy quote

• Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Hope, Children, Dragons

  47 Copy quote

• You'll never find the solution if you don't see the problem.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Problem, Solutions, Ifs

  65 Copy quote

• Moral issues are always terribly complex for someone without principles.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Issues, Principles, Moral

  53 Copy quote

• Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Christian, Wisdom, Religious

  "Points of friction". Book by Agnes Repplier, "Consolations of the Conservative", 1920.

  149 Copy quote

• There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Life, Happiness, Smart

  65 Copy quote

• It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Husband, Ideas, Feminism

  68 Copy quote

• When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Gratitude, Live Life, Grateful

  100 Copy quote

• A really great person is the person who makes every person feel great.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Life And Love, Great Person, Really Great

  137 Copy quote

• One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Nature, Adversity, Mountain Peaks

  "The Hammer of God". Short story by G. K. Chesterton, December 1910.

  77 Copy quote

• Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
  Never forget that the devil fell by force of gravity.
  He who has the faith has the fun.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Fun, Angel, Devil

  34 Copy quote

• But the truth is that it is only by believing in God that we can ever criticise the Government. Once abolish the God, and the Government becomes the God.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Believe, Russia, Government

  "Christendom in Dublin". Book by G. K. Chesterton, Ch. III: Very Christian Democracy., 1932.

  115 Copy quote

• We do not need a censorship of the press. We have a censorship by the press... It is not we who silence the press. It is the press who silences us.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Silence, Needs, Censorship

  90 Copy quote

• Whenever you remove any fence, always pause long enough to ask why it was put there in the first place.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Long, Firsts, Enough

  81 Copy quote

• Science must not impose any philosophy, any more than the telephone must tell us what to say.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Philosophy, Telephones

  37 Copy quote

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