Gilbert Keith Chesterton

England
29 May 1874 // 14 Jun 1936
Writer

Quotes

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When we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness but its obscurity. We exult in its very invisibility
When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude
What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity
What affects men sharply about a foreign nation is not so much finding or not finding familiar things; it is rather not finding them in the familiar place
We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbour
We call a man a bigot or a slave of dogma because he is a thinker who has thought thoroughly and to a definite end
We are justified in enforcing good morals, for they belong to all mankind; but we are not justified in enforcing good manners, for good manners always mean our own manners
True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around
Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays