A man cannot deserve adventures; he cannot earn dragons and hippogriffs. Gilbert K. Chesterton More Quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton More Quotes From Gilbert K. Chesterton People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are. Gilbert K. Chesterton reading simple book Excuse me if I enjoy myself rather obviously! I don't often have the luck to have a dream like this. It is new to me for a nightmare to lead me to a lobster. It is commonly the other way. Gilbert K. Chesterton luck dream lobster There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. Gilbert K. Chesterton home inspiring travel The classes that wash most are those that work least. Gilbert K. Chesterton class The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder. Gilbert K. Chesterton nature inspiration world If a man called Christmas Day a mere hypocritical excuse for drunkenness and gluttony, that would be false, but it would have a fact hidden in it somewhere. But when Bernard Shaw says the Christmas Day is only a conspiracy kept up by poulterers and wine merchants from strictly business motives, then he says something which is not so much false as startling and arrestingly foolish. He might as well say that the two sexes were invented by jewellers who wanted to sell wedding rings. Gilbert K. Chesterton wine christmas sex Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable. Gilbert K. Chesterton catholic evil men Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde. Gilbert K. Chesterton oscars sunset pay In the fairy tale, an incomprehensible happiness rests upon an incomprehensible condition. A box is opened and all evils fly out. A word is forgotten and cities perish. A lamp is lit and love flies away. An apple is eaten and the hope of God is gone. Gilbert K. Chesterton apples cities evil But I was frightfully fond of the universe and wanted to address it by a diminutive. I often did so; and it never seemed to mind. Gilbert K. Chesterton addresses mind wanted Only poor men get hanged. Gilbert K. Chesterton poor-man poor men The ignorant pronounce it Frood To cavil or applaud The well-informed pronounce it Froyd But I pronounce it Fraud. Gilbert K. Chesterton fraud ignorant wells The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden. Gilbert K. Chesterton truth-is humanity christian The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice. Gilbert K. Chesterton exhilaration vices today Free verse'? You may as well call sleeping in a ditch 'free architecture'. Gilbert K. Chesterton architecture sleep may The comedy of man survives the tragedy of man. Gilbert K. Chesterton catholic tragedy men And my haunting instinct that somehow good was not merely a tool to be used, but a relic to be guarded, like the goods from Crusoe's ship--even that had been the wild whisper of something originally wise, for, according to Christianity, we were indeed the survivors of a wreck, the crew of a golden ship that had gone down before the beginning of the world. Gilbert K. Chesterton survivor tools wise I would give a woman not more rights, but more privileges. Instead of sending her to seek such freedom as notoriously prevails in banks and factories, I would design specially a house in which she can be free. Gilbert K. Chesterton rights house giving I always like a dog so long as he isn't spelled backward. Gilbert K. Chesterton spiritual dog funny In anything that does cover the whole of your life - in your philosophy and your religion - you must have mirth. If you do not have mirth you will certainly have madness. Gilbert K. Chesterton mirth doe philosophy
