Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up. Gilbert Keith Chesterton More Quotes by Gilbert Keith Chesterton More Quotes From Gilbert Keith Chesterton All architecture is great architecture after sunset perhaps architecture is really a nocturnal art, like the art of fireworks. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Materialists and madmen never have doubts. Gilbert Keith Chesterton The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. Gilbert Keith Chesterton A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged he wants to be healed because he has been hurt. Gilbert Keith Chesterton We make our friends we make our enemies but God makes our next door neighbour. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know. Gilbert Keith Chesterton A good novel tells you the truth about its hero but a bad novel tells you the truth about its author. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Coincidences are spiritual puns. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Dogmatism does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought. Gilbert Keith Chesterton Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery He has not been broken in two by time he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul, but his life. Gilbert Keith Chesterton I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act. Gilbert Keith Chesterton I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. Gilbert Keith Chesterton If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God. Gilbert Keith Chesterton