Gilbert Keith Chesterton

England
29 May 1874 // 14 Jun 1936
Writer

Quotes

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Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another
Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated
Cruelty is, perhaps, the worst kid of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die
Artistic temperament is the disease that afflicts amateurs
Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere
Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame
All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone you leave them as they are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change
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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