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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.
Audio
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G.K. Chesterton's The Innocence of Fr. Brown
A Dramatic Reading by Kevin O'Brien
One of the most memorable sleuths in the canon of detective fiction has to be Father Brown, the small priest with "a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling", but who nevertheless outwits the greatest criminal minds with his wisdom regarding human nature. Brought to life here by actor Kevin O'Brien in a series of dramatic readings, this unabridged audio book of The Innocence of Father Brown also features an introduction and conclusion to each chapter by Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society and host of EWTN's immensely popular television series, G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense.
First published in 1910, The Innocence of Father Brown includes many of the greatest Father Brown stories, including The Blue Cross, The Flying Stars, and The Hammer of God. So, sit back and enjoy the brilliance and wit of G.K. Chesterton's inimitable Father Brown.
Available in Audio Book on CD and Downloadable Audio
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Lepanto
The Battle that Saved the West, by Christopher Check
On October 7, 1571, the most important sea battle in history was fought near the mouth of what is today called the Gulf of Patras, then the Gulf of Lepanto. On one side were the war galleys of the Holy League and on the other, those of the Ottoman Turks, rowed by tens of thousands of Christian galley slaves. Although the battle decided the future of Europe, few Europeans, and even fewer European Americans, know the story, much less how close Western Europe came to suffering an Islamic conquest.
On October 7, 1911, English poet and theologian G.K. Chesterton honored the battle with what is perhaps the greatest ballad of the 20th century. He wrote this extraordinary poem while the postman impatiently waited for the copy. It was instantly popular and remained so for years. The ballad by the great GKC is no less inspiring today and is more timely than ever, as the West faces the growing threat of Islam.
In the new 3-CD set, Lepanto: The Battle That Saved The West, Christopher Check, Executive Vice President of the Rockford Institute and an expert on Lepanto, tells the exhilarating story of Lepanto, first in his own words and then through the classic poem of G.K. Chesterton.
Available in Audio Talk on CD
Related: Lepanto (with explanatory notes): Softcover, E-book, and Downloadable Audio -
Orthodoxy
It's been 100 years since this dazzling work was first published. Written in 1908 when G.K. Chesterton was only thirty-four years old, Orthodoxy tells, in his inimitable soaring prose, of his earth-shaking discovery that orthodoxy is the only satisfactory answer to the perplexing riddle of the universe. C.S. Lewis and many other emerging Christian thinkers have found this book a pivotal step in their adoption of a credible Christian faith. Orthodoxy is perhaps the most outstanding example of the originality of Chesterton's style and the brilliance of his thought.
In this audio book, Dale Ahlquist, the popular host of EWTN's G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, provides an introduction as well as a rousing reading of the text. Don't miss this chance to absorb the genius that is Chesterton!
Available in Audio Book on CD, Softcover, and E-book
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The Everlasting Man
Considered by many to be Chesterton's greatest masterpiece of all his writings, this is his whole view of world history as informed by the Incarnation. Beginning with the origin of man and the various religious attitudes throughout history, Chesterton shows how the fulfillment of all of man's desires takes place in the person of Christ and in Christ's Church.
Chesterton propounds the thesis that "those who say that Christ stands side by side with similar myths, and his religion side by side with similar religions, are only repeating a very stale formula contradicted by a very striking fact." And with all the brilliance and devastating irony, so characteristic of his best writing, Chesterton gleefully and tempestuously tears to shreds that "very stale formula" and triumphantly proclaims in vivid language the glory and unanswerable logic of that very striking fact. Here is the genius of Chesterton at its delightful best.
In this audio book, Dale Ahlquist, the popular host of EWTN's G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, provides an introduction as well as a rousing reading of the text.
Available in Audio Book on CD, Downloadable Audio, Softcover, and E-book
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Manalive
A Novel by G.K. Chesterton
This classic novel by Chesterton tells the rollicking tale of Innocent Smith, a man who may be crazy—or he may be the most sane man of all. Arriving at a London boarding house accompanied by a windstorm, Innocent is soon accused of attempted murder, burglary, polygamy, and desertion of his wife. As the residents of Beacon House try to piece together what this madman is up to, a detective is called upon to unravel the accusations against Smith. Actor Kevin O'Brien of the Theater of the Word gives a dramatic reading of the text in the audio versions.
Available in Audio Book on CD, Downloadable Audio, Softcover, E-book