Chesterton Wit

The most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher. Compared to him, burglars and bigamists are essentially moral men. Chesterton

The honest poor can sometimes forget poverty. The honest rich can never forget it. Chesterton

I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees. Chesterton

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried. Chesterton

Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers another. Chesterton

One may understand the Cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star. Chesterton

The full value of this life can only be got by fighting; the violent take it by storm. And if we have accepted everything we have missed something -- war. This life of ours is a very enjoyable fight, but a very miserable truce. Chesterton

The golden age only comes to men when they have forgotten gold. Chesterton

The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us. Chesterton

Their is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect. Chesterton

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. Chesterton

It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam. Chesterton

The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself. Chesterton

Merely having an open mind is nothing; the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. Chesterton

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue. Chesterton

Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right. The fact is obvious. The might is in the hundred men who obey. The right (or what is held to be right) is in the one man who commands them. Chesterton

Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. Chesterton

Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere. Chesterton

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. Chesterton

There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong. Chesterton

Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution. Chesterton

Do not free the camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel. Chesterton

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. Chesterton

A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things. Chesterton

Facts as facts do not always create a spirit of reality, because reality is a spirit. Chesterton

A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon. Chesterton

The worst of work nowadays is what happens to people when they cease to work. Chesterton

We are justified in enforcing good morals, for they belong to all mankind; but we are not justified in enforcing good manners, for good manners always mean our own manners. Chesterton

Your next-door neighbor is not a man; he is an environment. He is the barking of a dog; he is the noise of a piano; he is a dispute about a party wall; he is drains that are worse than yours, or roses that are better than yours. Chesterton

We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbor. Chesterton

A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice. Chesterton

You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it. Chesterton

A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching. Chesterton

proverbia (To be read with caution, the selection of quotes is questionable!)