G.K. Chesterton
Quotes by G.K. Chesterton
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Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.
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The moment we care for anything deeply, the world - that is, all the other miscellaneous interests - becomes our enemy. Christians showed it when they talked of keeping one's self unspotted from the world; but lovers talk of it just as much when they talk of the world well lost. Astronomically speaking, I understand that England is situated on the world; similarly, I suppose that the Church was a part of the world, and even the lovers inhabitants of that orb. But they all felt a certain truth - the truth that the moment you love anything the world becomes your foe.
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In a world where everything is ridiculous, nothing can be ridiculed. You cannot unmask a mask.
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Architecture approaches nearer than any other art to being irrevocable because it is so difficult to get rid of.
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Art is limitation; the essence of every picture is the frame!
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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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The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world. In this long vigil he often has to vary his methods of stimulation; but in this long vigil he is also himself striving against a continual tendency to sleep.
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Artistic temperament is the disease that afflicts amateurs.
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Artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs.
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There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.
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An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
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I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
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Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump: you may be freeing him from being a camel.
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The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.
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The first fact about the celebration of a birthday is that it is a way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive.
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Large organization is loose organization. Nay it would be almost as true to say that organization is always disorganization.
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A great classic means a man whom one can praise without having read.
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Cleanliness is not next to godliness nowadays, for cleanliness is made an essential and godliness is regarded as an offence.
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True contentment is a real, even an active virtue-not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it.
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Grey is a colour that always seems on the eve of changing to some other colour.
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