It is always the secure who are humble. G K Chesterton
Silence is the unbearable repartee. G K Chesterton
It is the test of a good religion whether you can make a joke about it. G K Chesterton
Progress is the mother of problems. G K Chesterton
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried. G K Chesterton
I still believe in liberalism today as much as I ever did, but, oh, there was a happy time when I believed in liberals. G K Chesterton
Journalism consists largely in saying ‘Lord Jones died’ to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive. G K Chesterton
Marriage is an adventure, like going to war. G K Chesterton
The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. G K Chesterton
We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbour. G K Chesterton
Feminists are those who cannot stand female characteristics. G K Chesterton
I do not believe in fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in fate that falls on them unless they act. G K Chesterton
There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. G K Chesterton
I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean. G K Chesterton
The artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs. G K Chesterton
Truths turn into dogmas the moment they are disputed. G K Chesterton
All architecture is great architecture after sunset; perhaps architecture is really a nocturnal art, like the art of fireworks. G K Chesterton
The only good argument against Christianity is Christians. G K Chesterton
I’ve searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees. G K Chesterton
When people begin to ignore human dignity, it will not be long before they begin to ignore human rights. G K Chesterton
Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought. G K Chesterton
I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles. G K Chesterton
The Bible tells us to love our neighbours, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people. G K 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. G K Chesterton
True contentment is a real, even an active, virtue, not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare. G K Chesterton
Jokes are generally honest. Complete solemnity is always dishonest. G K Chesterton
A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things. G K Chesterton
The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist see what he has come to see. G K Chesterton
The Museum is not meant either for the wanderer to see by accident or for the pilgrim to see with awe. It is meant for the mere slave of a routine of self-education to stuff himself with every sort of incongruous intellectual food in one indigestible meal. G K Chesterton
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 merely happen to be walking around. G K Chesterton
Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalised. G K Chesterton
No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. G K Chesterton
The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. G K Chesterton
Five times in the last 2,000 years the Church has to all appearances gone to the dogs. In each case it was the dogs that died. G K Chesterton
Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. G K Chesterton
A radical generally meant a man who thought he could somehow pull up the root without affecting the flower. G K Chesterton
If I had only one sermon to preach it would be a sermon against pride. G K Chesterton
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated. G K 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. G K Chesterton
It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam. Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Ritual will always mean throwing away something: destroying our corn or wine upon the altar of our gods. G K Chesterton
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire.
G K Chesterton