Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes About Arguing

• A man's minor actions and arrangements ought to be free, flexible, creative; the things that should be unchangeable are his principles, his ideals. But with us the reverse is true; our views change constantly; but our lunch does not change. Now, I should like men to have strong and rooted conceptions, but as for their lunch, let them have it sometimes in the garden, sometimes in bed, sometimes on the roof, sometimes in the top of a tree. Let them argue from the same first principles, but let them do it in a bed, or a boat, or a balloon.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Strong, Men, Garden

• If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by the things that go with good judgment.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Moving, Christian Inspirational, Mind

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.12, Simon and Schuster

• My brother, Cecil Edward Chesterton, was born when I was about five years old; and, after a brief pause, began to argue. He continued to argue to the end. I am glad to think that through all those years we never stopped arguing; and we never once quarreled. Perhaps the principal objection to a quarrel is that it interrupts an argument.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Brother, Thinking, Years

• It is generally the man who is not ready to argue, who is ready to sneer.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Men, Arguing, Apologetic

• My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Attitude, Boredom, Long

• People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Fear, People, Atheism

• What is the good of words if they aren't important enough to quarrel over? Why do we choose one word more than another if there isn't any difference between them? If you called a woman a chimpanzee instead of an angel, wouldn't there be a quarrel about a word? If you're not going to argue about words, what are you going to argue about? Are you going to convey your meaning to me by moving your ears? The Church and the heresies always used to fight about words, because they are the only thing worth fighting about.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Moving, Angel, Fighting

• If I think the universe is triangular, and you think it is square, there cannot be room for two universes. We may argue politely, we may argue humanely, we may argue with great mutual benefit: but, obviously, we must argue.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Thinking, Squares, Mutual Benefit

  Illustrated London News, 10 Oct. 1908

• Every remedy is a desperate remedy. Every cure is a miraculous cure. Curing a madman is not arguing with a philosopher; it is casting out a devil.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Devil, Casting, Philosopher

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.14, Simon and Schuster

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