Quotes from G. K. Chesterton: Author of the Father Brown Stories, many essays and poems
Chesterton at work
GK Chesterton quotes
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English Journalist, critic, essayist, author and Poet.
I have been a fan of Chesterton since college days. He wrote the classic series of short story mysteries about Father Brown, the clerical detective. He also had observations on Philosophy and Theology. I especially liked his unique view of life and society which is epitomized in his famous paradoxes, seeming contradictions. The following quotations are a sampling of his view.
Love and Truth
“To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.”
“Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.”
In other words love has to be unconditional to be real.
“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they can’t see the problem.”
I see the truth of this in politicians rushing bills through without first examining what the problem is they want to solve. Have they ever identified in our health care system what actually needs fixing? It seems that they actually ignore those things.
- G.K Chesterton views America
Chesterton in America a review of - G.K. Chesterton: roots of the clerical detecti...
Public domain I was a fan of Alec Guinness when his comedy films were being shown and one off these was The Detective based on G.K. Chestertons father Brown stories. This was my introduction to both... - G.K Chesterton views America
Chesterton in America a review of
On Education
“Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know.”
“The chief object of education is not to learn things but to unlearn things.”
“The purpose of Compulsory Education is to deprive the common people of their commonsense.”
“When learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven’t got any
“Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously”
“Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.”
Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.”
I like the one about “taking educated people seriously” since in politics we have so many “smart, educated people” that we are supposed to take uncritically, even if they are total idiots.
with his dog
Fables
“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
“Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.”
A certain element in our society think that children should no read “Harry Potter” or watch cartoons or other things that are fun bcause it is “not reality.” I agree with Chesterton.
“The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”
“Marriage is an adventure, like going to war.”
“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”
Religion
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.”
“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”
“It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”
“Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”
“Never invoke the gods unless you really want them to appear. It annoys them very much.”
I think these religious views punch a hole in some of the sanctimonious extremes one runs across even today.
Literature
“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.”
“Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another.”
History
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live
Or the age in which they are living.”
“You shouldn’t take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.”
Metaphorically the last statement would seem to apply to things like closing Gitmo and other policies rushed into by the administration..
