G. K. Chesterton

About

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English Christian apologist writer. Chesterton's wit, paradoxical style, and defence of tradition made him a dominant figure in early 20th-century literature.

from Wikipedia

G. K. Chesterton is sometimes cited as:

G.K. Chesterton
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Quotes from G. K. Chesterton

Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.

—G. K. Chesterton

Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.

—G. K. Chesterton

love virtue

Your next-door neighbor . . . is not a man; he is an environment. He is the barking of a dog; he is the noise of a pianola; he is a dispute about a party wall; he is drains that are worse than yours, or roses that are better than yours.

—G. K. Chesterton

perception neighbors

Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.

—G. K. Chesterton

beauty art imitation

Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.

—G. K. Chesterton

enemies self

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.

—G. K. Chesterton

perception perspective travel returning

Suppose some mathematical creature from the moon were to reckon up the human body; he would at once see the essential thing about it was that it was duplicate. A man is two men, he on the right exactly resembling him on the left. Having noted that there was an arm on the right and one on the left, a leg on the right and one on the left, he might go further still and find on each side the same number of fingers, the same number of toes, twin eyes, twin ears, twin nostrils, and even twin lobes of the brain. At last he would take it as a law; and then, where he found a heart on one side, would deduce that there was another heart on the other. And just then, where he most felt he was right, he would be wrong.

—G. K. Chesterton

Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.

—G. K. Chesterton

Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.

—G. K. Chesterton

being identity

By a curious confusion, many modern critics have passed from the proposition that a masterpiece may be unpopular to the other proposition that unless it is unpopular it cannot be a masterpiece.

—G. K. Chesterton

curiosity popularity confusione masterpiece

I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.

—G. K. Chesterton

It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem.

—G. K. Chesterton

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.

—G. K. Chesterton

The Victorian Age made one or two mistakes, but they were mistakes that were really useful; that is, mistakes that were really mistaken. They thought that commerce outside a country must extend peace; it has certainly often extended war. They thought that commerce inside a country must certainly promote prosperity; it has largely promoted poverty. But for them these were experiments; for us they ought to be lessons.

—G. K. Chesterton

If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.

—G. K. Chesterton