Gilbert K. Chesterton

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.

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.

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

The paradox of courage is that a man must be a little careless of his life even in order to keep it.

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.

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.

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

If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God.

Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.

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

The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.

One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.

If I did not believe in God, I should still want my doctor, my lawyer and my banker to do so.

The home is not the one tame place in the world of adventure. It is the one wild place in the world of rules and set tasks.

No sceptical philosopher can ask any questions that may not equally be asked by a tired child on a hot afternoon.

Liberty has produced scepticism, and scepticism has destroyed liberty. The lovers of liberty thought they were leaving it unlimited, when they were only leaving it undefined. They thought they were only leaving it undefined, when they were really leaving it undefended.

Without authority there is no liberty. Freedom is doomed to destruction at every turn, unless there is a recognized right to freedom. And if there are rights, there is an authority to which we appeal for them.