Gilbert K. Chesterton

Even the moon is only poetical because there is a man in the moon.

There are two ways of dealing with nonsense in this world. One way is to put nonsense in the right place; as when people put nonsense into nursery rhymes. The other is to put nonsense in the wrong place; as when they put it into educational addresses, psychological criticisms, and complaints against nursery rhymes or other normal amusements of mankind.

There is the great lesson of 'Beauty and the Beast,' that a thing must be loved before it is lovable.

Daybreak is a never-ending glory; getting out of bed is a never ending nuisance.

Oh, most unhappy man,' he cried, 'try to be happy! You have red hair like your sister.' My red hair, like red flames, shall burn up the world,' said Gregory.

In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.

In the end it will not matter to us whether we wrote well or ill; whether we fought with flails or reeds. It will matter to us greatly on what side we fought.

Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.

How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.

My brain and this world don't fit each other; and there's an end of it.

Thrift is poetic because it is creative; waste is unpoetic because it is waste.

The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad.

Your offer," he said, "is far too idiotic to be declined.

Here ends another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, hands and the great world around me. Tomorrow begins another day. Why am I allowed two?

The things we see every day are the things we never see at all.

The State did not own men so entirely, even when it could send them to the stake, as it sometimes does now where it can send them to the elementary school.

The more truly we can see life as a fairytale, the more clearly the tale resolves itself into war with the dragon who is wasting fairyland.

The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar.

The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world.

Wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it.

He has come to the most dreadful conclusion a literary man can come to, the conclusion that the ordinary view is the right one. It is only the last and wildest kind of courage that can stand on a tower before ten thousand people and tell them that twice two is four.