Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

Jesus promised his disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.

Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is Dead’ to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.

Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.

No man who worships education has got the best out of education… Without a gentle contempt for education no man’s education is complete.

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.

The word ‘good’ has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.

The simplification of anything is always sensational.

Tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything.

Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.

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.

Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.

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.