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 More Quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton More Quotes From Gilbert K. Chesterton There is nothing so weak, for working purposes, as this enormous importance attached to immediate victory. There is nothing that fails like success. Gilbert K. Chesterton victory failing purpose We are all ordinary people. And it's the extraordinary people Who know it. Gilbert K. Chesterton knows ordinary people One can hardly think too little of one's self. One can hardly think too much of one's soul. Gilbert K. Chesterton soul self thinking The historic glory of America lies in the fact that it is the one nation that was founded like a church. That is, it was founded on a faith that was not merely summed up after it had exited, but was defined before it existed. Gilbert K. Chesterton church lying america The prophet and the quack are alike admired for a generation, and admired for the wrong reasons. Gilbert K. Chesterton prophet generations reason But since he stood for England And knew what England means, Unless you give him bacon You must not give him beans. Gilbert K. Chesterton food giving mean If the world grows to worldly, it can be rebuked by the Church; but if the Church grows to worldly, it cannot be adequately rebuked for worldlyness by the world. Gilbert K. Chesterton grows church world children are simply human beings who are allowed to do what everyone else really desires to do, as for instance, to fly kites, or when seriously wronged to emit prolonged screams for several minutes. Gilbert K. Chesterton kites desire children One can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place. Gilbert K. Chesterton right-person persons sometimes Every one of the great revolutionists, from Isaiah to Shelley, have been optimists. They have been indignant, not about the badness of existence, but about the slowness of men in realizing its goodness. Gilbert K. Chesterton realizing goodness men It is not only possible to say a great deal in praise of play; it is really possible to say the highest things in praise of it. It might reasonably be maintained that the true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. Gilbert K. Chesterton garden play heaven 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 courageous orthodoxy mean There is a certain poetic value, and that a genuine one, in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things. There is beauty, not only in wisdom, but in this dazed and dramatic ignorance. Gilbert K. Chesterton dramatic poetic ignorance The one stream of poetry which is continually flowing is slang. Gilbert K. Chesterton slang streams When we look upon lives so human and yet so small, we feel as if we ourselves were enlarged to an embarrassing bigness of stature. We feel the same kind of obligation to these creatures that a deity might feel if he had created something that he could not understand. Gilbert K. Chesterton deities might looks Gratitude, being nearly the greatest of human duties, is also nearly the most difficult. Gilbert K. Chesterton difficult gratitude duty Fairy tales are more than true. Gilbert K. Chesterton fairy-stories fairy-tale dragons Tradition is only democracy extended through time; it may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who are merely walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father. Gilbert K. Chesterton men mean father English experience indicates that when the two great political parties agree about something it is generally wrong. Gilbert K. Chesterton party government two It is better to speak wisdom foolishly like the saints than to speak folly wisely like the deans. Gilbert K. Chesterton saint speak education
