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There is no great harm in the theorist who makes up a new theory to fit a new event. But the theorist who starts with a false theory and then sees everything as making it come true is the most dangerous enemy of human reason.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

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Gilbert K. Chesterton
Age: 62 †
Born: 1874
Born: May 29
Died: 1936
Died: June 14
Autobiographer
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Beaconsfield
Buckinghamshire
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Gilbert Chesterton
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More quotes by Gilbert K. Chesterton

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Life is serious all the time, but living cannot be. You may have all the solemnity you wish in your neckties, but in anything important (such as sex, death, and religion), you must have mirth or you will have madness.
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It is not only possible to say a great deal in praise of play it is really possible to say the highest things in praise of it. It might reasonably be maintained that the true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden heaven is a playground.
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Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.
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You don't want to be so open minded that your brains fall out!
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Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalised.
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People that insist upon drinking and driving, are putting the quart before the hearse.
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People who make history know nothing about history. You can see that in the sort of history they make.
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A detective story generally describes six living men discussing how it is that a man is dead. A modern philosophic story generally describes six dead men discussing how any man can possibly be alive.
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The word 'heresy' not only means no longer being wrong it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word 'orthodoxy' not only no longer means being right it practically means being wrong
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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I am a bad reporter because everything seems to me worth reporting and a bad reviewer because every sentence in every book suggests a separate essay.
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Every work of art has one indispensable mark ... the center of it is simple, however much the fulfillment may be complicated.
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Science in the modern world has many uses its chief use, however, is to provide long words to cover the errors of the rich.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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If you happen to read fairy tales, you will observe that one idea runs from one end of them to the other--the idea that peace and happiness can only exist on some condition. This idea, which is the core of ethics, is the core of the nursery-tales.
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One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego the self is more distant than any star.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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A citizen can hardly distinguish between a tax and a fine, except that the fine is generally much lighter.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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We are always giving foreign names to very native things. If there is a thing that reeks of the glorious tradition of the old English tavern, it is toasted cheese. But for some wild reason we call it Welsh rarebit. I believe that what we call Irish stew might more properly be called English stew, and that it is not particularly familiar in Ireland.
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The big corporation is not in the least remarkable for efficiency it is only too big to be blamed for its inefficiency.
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One can hardly think too little of one's self. One can hardly think too much of one's soul.
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O God of earth and altar, Bow down and hear our cry, Our earthly rulers falter, Our people drift and die The walls of gold entomb us, The swords of scorn divide, Take not thy thunder from us, But take away our pride.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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I believe in getting into hot water it keeps you clean.
Gilbert K. Chesterton