The word 'heresy' not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word 'orthodoxy' not only no longer means being right; it practically Gilbert K. Chesterton More Quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton More Quotes From Gilbert K. Chesterton The only defensible war is a war of defense. Gilbert K. Chesterton defensewarpeace When we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness but its obscurity. We exult in its very invisibility. Gilbert K. Chesterton invisibilityobscurityliterature 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. Gilbert K. Chesterton agriculturepowerhappiness Men feel that cruelty to the poor is a kind of cruelty to animals. They never feel that it is an injustice to equals; nay it is treachery to comrades. Gilbert K. Chesterton kindanimalmen And they that rule in England, in stately conclaves met, alas, alas for England they have no graves as yet. Gilbert K. Chesterton metsgravesengland Large organization is loose organization. Nay, it would be almost as true to say that organization is always disorganization. Gilbert K. Chesterton organizationliteraturewould-be Nothing is poetical if plain daylight is not poetical; and no monster should amaze us if the normal man does not amaze. Gilbert K. Chesterton daylightnormalmen The cosmos is about the smallest hole that a man can hide his head in. Gilbert K. Chesterton cosmosliteraturemen What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity. Gilbert K. Chesterton literaturemeanpeople Women prefer to talk in twos, while men prefer to talk in threes. Gilbert K. Chesterton womenliteraturemen A radical generally meant a man who thought he could somehow pull up the root without affecting the flower. A conservative generally meant a man who wanted to conserve everything except his own reason for conserving anything. Gilbert K. Chesterton flowerrootsmen Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf. Gilbert K. Chesterton halfliteraturemean Those thinkers who cannot believe in any gods often assert that the love of humanity would be in itself sufficient for them; and so, perhaps, it would, if they had it. Gilbert K. Chesterton godlovebelieve Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head. Gilbert K. Chesterton godanimalmen Men always talk about the most important things to perfect strangers. In the perfect stranger we perceive man himself; the image of a God is not disguised by resemblances to an uncle or doubts of wisdom of a mustache. Gilbert K. Chesterton unclesperfectmen White... is not a mere absence of colour; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black... God paints in many colours; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white. Gilbert K. Chesterton color-whiteshiningflower It is not funny that anything else should fall down; only that a man should fall down... Why do we laugh? Because it is a grave religious matter: it is the Fall of Man. Only man can be absurd: for only man can be dignified. Gilbert K. Chesterton religiousfunnyfall The ordinary scientific man is strictly a sentimentalist. He is a sentimentalist in this essential sense, that he is soaked and swept away by mere associations. Gilbert K. Chesterton aquariumsliteraturemen Being 'contented' ought to mean in English, as it does in French, being pleased. Being content with an attic ought not to mean being unable to move from it and resigned to living in it; it ought to mean appreciating all there is in such a position. Gilbert K. Chesterton appreciatemeanmoving 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. Gilbert K. Chesterton findingsfamiliarmen
