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 If the devil tells you something is too fearful to look at, look at it. If he says something is too terrible to hear, hear it. If you think some truth unbearable, bear it. Gilbert K. Chesterton devil looks thinking That young man with the long, auburn hair and the impudent face - that young man was not really a poet; but surely he was a poem. Gilbert K. Chesterton hair men long The most poetical thing in the world is not being sick. Gilbert K. Chesterton being-sick sick world of being strong and brave. The strong can not be brave. Only the weak can be brave; and yet again, in practice, only those who can be brave can be trusted, in time of doubt, to be strong. Gilbert K. Chesterton strong practice inspirational Like every book I never wrote, it is by far the best book I have ever written. Gilbert K. Chesterton written book I am going to hold a pistol to the head of the Modern Man. But I shall not use it to kill him–only to bring him to life. Gilbert K. Chesterton pistols use men What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world. Gilbert K. Chesterton childhood miracle world She had never really listened to anyone in her life; which, some said, was why she had survived. Gilbert K. Chesterton survived said Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion. To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain. Gilbert K. Chesterton infinite sea exercise I still think sincere pessimism the unpardonable sin. Gilbert K. Chesterton pessimism sin thinking Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious. Gilbert K. Chesterton balance christianity opposites Think of all those ages through which men have had the courage to die, and then remember that we have actually fallen to talking about having the courage to live. Gilbert K. Chesterton talking men thinking Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth? Gilbert K. Chesterton grateful sweet children People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It was sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad. Gilbert K. Chesterton mad people religion There is no way in which a man can earn a star or deserve a sunset. Gilbert K. Chesterton sunset stars men Life is indeed terribly complicated—to a man who has lost his principles. Gilbert K. Chesterton principles life-is men He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it. Gilbert K. Chesterton coward suicide waiting Ten thousand women marched through the streets shouting, 'We will not be dictated to,' and went off and became stenographers. Gilbert K. Chesterton shouting thousand sex The point is not that this world is too sad to love or too glad not to love; the point is that when you do love a thing, its gladness is a reason for loving it, and its sadness a reason for loving it more. Gilbert K. Chesterton sadness reason world I left the fairy tales lying on the floor of the nursery, and I have not found any books so sensible since. Gilbert K. Chesterton nurse book lying
