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"If people must not be taught religion, they might be taught reason, philosophy. If the State must not teach them to pray it might teach them to think. And when I say that children should be taught to think I do not mean (like many moderns) that they should be taught to doubt; for the two processes are not only not the same, but are in many ways opposite. To doubt is only to destroy; to think is to create."
– G.K. Chesterton
Quoted by Dale Ahlquist in his book The Complete Thinker.
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"The refusal of God to explain His design is itself a burning hint of His design. The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his essay "The Book of Job." Collected in the book In Defense of Sanity.
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"We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right. What we want is a religion that is right where we are wrong. In these current fashions it is not really a question of the religion allowing us liberty; but (at the best) of the liberty of allowing us a religion. These people merely take the modern mood, with much in it that is amiable and much that is anarchical and much that is merely dull and obvious, and then require any creed to be cut down to fit that mood. But the mood would exist even without the creed. They say they want a religion to be practical, when they would be practical without any religion. They say they want a religion acceptable to science, when they would accept the science even if they did not accept the religion. They say they want a religion like this because they are like this already. They say they want it, when they mean that they could do without it."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his book The Catholic Church and Conversion.
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"Some people have an instinctive itch of irritation against the word 'authority.' Either they suppose that authority is a pompous name for mere bullying, or else, at the best, they think that mere bullying is an excess of authority. Tyranny is the opposite of authority. For authority simply means right; and nothing is authoritative except what somebody has a right to do, and therefore is right in doing. It often happens in this imperfect world that he has the right to do it and not the power to do it. But he cannot have a shred of authority if he merely has the power to do it and not the right to do it.... To abuse authority is to attack authority. A policeman is no longer a policeman when he is bribed privately to arrest an innocent man; he is a private criminal. He is not exaggerating authority; he is reducing it to nothing."
– G.K. Chesterton
From the essay, "True and False Comparisons"
This essay can be found in the newly released Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 37.
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"I grew up in a world in which the Protestants, who had just proved that Rome did not believe the Bible, were excitedly discovering that they did not believe the Bible themselves."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his book, The Catholic Church and Conversion.
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"I am not at all disturbed about the future of the Faith; but I am disturbed about the future of the doubters."
– G.K. Chesterton
From the essay, "The Rout of Reason", collected in the book In Defense of Sanity.
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"For, given any freedom of that sort, the State does become one vast Foundling Hospital. If families will not be responsible for their own children then officials will be responsible for other people's children.... The total control of human life will pass to the State; and it will be a very Totalitarian State."
– G.K. Chesterton
From the essay "An Alternative to the Family", found in the newly released Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 37.
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"I despise Birth-Control because it is a weak and wobbly and cowardly thing. It is not even a step along the muddy road they call Eugenics; it is a flat refusal to take the first and most obvious step along the road of Eugenics. Once grant that their philosophy is right, and their course of action is obvious; and they dare not take it; they dare not even declare it... The obvious course for Eugenists is to act towards babies as they act towards kittens. Let all the babies be born; and then let us drown those we do not like."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his book The Well and the Shallows.
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"A common hesitation in our day touching the use of extreme convictions is a sort of notion that extreme convictions, especially upon cosmic matters, have been responsible in the past for the thing which is called bigotry. But a very small amount of direct experience will dissipate this view. In real life the people who are most bigoted are the people who have no convictions at all."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his book Heretics.
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"Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it."
– G.K. Chesterton
Quoted in G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense by Dale Ahlquist
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"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his book Christendom in Dublin.
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"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his book The Everlasting Man.
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"I read the astounding statement that the Catholic Church regards sex as having the nature of sin. How marriage can be a sacrament if sex is a sin, or why it is the Catholics who are in favour of birth and their foes who are in favour of birth control, I will leave the critic to worry out for himself."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his book Saint Thomas Aquinas.
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"I am incurably convinced that the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid."
– G.K. Chesterton
From his Autobiography.
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"The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice."
– G.K. Chesterton
Quoted in G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense by Dale Ahlquist.
Articles about Chesterton
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Chesterton and Orthodoxy
An Ignatius Insight Podcast with Dale Ahlquist and Carl E. Olson
The editor of Ignatius Insight and the President of the American Chesterton Society talk about the 100th anniversary of G. K. Chesterton's great book, Orthodoxy, the upcoming 27th Annual Chesterton Conference, and... (read more)
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Seeing With the Eyes of G.K. Chesterton
An Interview with Dale Ahlquist
"You first began reading Chesterton when you were an Evangelical Protestant. How did you discover his work and what was your initial impression of his writing and thought?" Dale Ahlquist: I had a brother-in-law who was a famous Jesus Rock singer back in the 1970's. His name was Larry Norman. He was the one who first recommended... (read more)
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Recovering The Lost Art of Common Sense
An Excerpt from Common Sense 101: Lessons From G.K. Chesterton, by Dale Ahlquist
The most famous thing Chesterton said is something he didn't say. He is always quoted as saying that when a man stops believing in God he doesn't believe in nothing, he believes in anything. It is a great line, and it is well worth quoting, and I have no doubt that Chesterton would agree with it and would be pleased to hear it quoted. But it's just not what he said. What he said was, "The first effect of not believing in God, is that you lose your common sense."... (read more)
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Chesterton and the "Paradoxy" of Orthodoxy
by Carl E. Olson
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, widely regarded as one of the most important and unique works of Christian apologetics written in modern times. I first read it in 1993 as an Evangelical Protestant; it played a significant role in my journey to the Catholic Church... (read more)
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The Attraction of Orthodoxy
from Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration In An Age of Unbelief
In 1908 Chesterton produced one of his most influential books. Orthodoxy, published on 25 September, was written in response to a reviewer of his earlier book, Heretics, who had complained that Chesterton had condemned the theology and philosophy of others without clearly stating his own.... (read more)
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Chesterton and Saint Francis
from Literary Giants, Literary Catholics, by Joseph Pearce
Chesterton enjoyed a lifelong friendship with Saint Francis of Assisi. As a small boy, long before he had an inkling of the nature of Catholicism, Chesterton was read a story by his parents about a man who gave up all his possessions, even the clothes he was wearing on his back, to follow Christ in holy poverty.... (read more)
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Chesterton and the Delight of Truth
by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
This essay might be about the "splendor" of truth rather than about its "delight," but John Paul II famously claimed the "splendor" for himself—Veritatis Splendor. Chesterton simply rejoices in truth, but not just for the sake of his own rejoicing, but because there is something to rejoice about.... (read more)
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The Life and Theme of G.K. Chesterton
An Introduction to The Autobiography of G.K. Chesterton, by Rev. Randall Paine
The prospect of a humble man setting out to write an autobiography suggests an enterprise blighted with potential frustrations–for both author and reader. Being humble, the author will hardly regard himself as sterling material for a book. The reader, already poising the book in his lap, obviously disagrees.... (read more)
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Hot Water and Fresh Air: On Chesterton and His Foes
by Janet E. Smith
When the accounting comes and we all are asked to report why we are grateful to Father Joseph Fessio, the list will be long. Not least among the gifts he has given us is his project of putting the complete works of G.K. Chesterton back into print.... (read more)
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ChesterBelloc
by Dr. Ralph McInerny
Chesterton died relatively young, with his authorial boots on, whereas Belloc lived on to enormous old age. There are several evocations of him in the diaries of Evelyn Waugh. "He has grown a splendid white beard and in his cloak, which with his hat he wore indoors and always, he seemed an archimandrite."... (read more)
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G.K. Chesterton: Common Sense Apostle & Cigar Smoking Mystic
by Dale Ahlquist
There comes a time in the life of any artist, any writer or poet, when he reaches the end of his abilities, when he finds himself wrestling all night with an angel. It is the moment when he tries to think the thought which thought cannot think, to visualize the invisible and describe the indescribable.... (read more)
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Chesterton, Sports, and Politics
An Interview with Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
"You've written numerous essays on G. K. Chesterton. What is your debt to Chesterton and why does he continue to be so relevant today?" Fr. Schall: Back in June, I gave a paper at the annual conference of the American Chesterton Society at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul. It was called "Chesterton: The Real Heretic," and will be published later in Logos.... (read more)
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Is Heresy Heretical?
by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ
This year, 2005, is the 100th anniversary of the publication of G. K. Chesterton's famous book, Heretics. The "heretics" were people, if you recall, who finally convinced Chesterton that the Church was right, because the logic of the heretical position, when spelled out, was intellectually untenable.... (read more)
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G.K. Chesterton, the Poet
The Introduction to Volume X: Collected Poetry (Part III) of G.K. Chesterton: Collected Works, by Denis J. Conlon
Speaking on January 11, 1934, to the Distributist League at Gatti's Restaurant in London Gilbert Chesterton summed up what he called his moral, mental and spiritual condition in an impromptu triolet: "My writing is bad, / And my speaking is worse;"... (read more)