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The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton

Book by Gilbert K. Chesterton · 11 quotes · Men, Ifs, World

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The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

“An enormous amount of modern ingenuity is expended on finding defences for the indefensible conduct of the powerful. As I have said above, these defences generally exhibit themselves most emphatically in the form of appeals to physical science. And of all the forms in which science, or pseudo-science, has come to the rescue of the rich and stupid, there is none so singular as the singular invention of the theory of races.”

SaidFormPowerfulRaceRichModernStupidTheoryAmountFindingsEnormousInventionAppealsRescueDefenceExhibitsIngenuityPseudoPhysical Science
Book:The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“Who would condescend to strike down the mere things that he does not fear? Who would debase himself to be merely brave, like any common prizefighter? Who would stoop to be fearless--like a tree? Fight the thing that you fear. You remember the old tale of the English clergyman who gave the last rites to the brigand of Sicily, and how on his death-bed the great robber said, 'I can give you no money, but I can give you advice for a lifetime: your thumb on the blade, and strike upwards.' So I say to you, strike upwards, if you strike at the stars.”

IfsGivingDoeSaidI CanLastsRememberFightingStarsCommonTreeAdviceBedBraveMereLifetimeStrikesTalesFearlessBladesThumbsNo MoneyRiteRobbersStoopsClergymenDeath Bed
Book:The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“There again," said Syme irritably, "what is there poetical about being in revolt? You might as well say that it is poetical to be sea-sick. Being sick is a revolt. Both being sick and being rebellious may be the wholesome thing on certain desperate occasions; but I'm hanged if I can see why they are poetical...It is things going right," he cried, "that is poetical! Our digestions, for instance, going sacredly and silently right, that is the foundation of all poetry...the most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.”

IfsWorldWellsMaySaidI CanMightCertainSeaSickFoundationInstanceOccasionsDesperateCriedRebelliousRevoltDigestionBeing Sick
Book:The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“I said to him, "Shall I tell you where the men are who believe most in themselves? For I can tell you. I know of men who believe in themselves more colossally than Napoleon or Caesar. I know where flames the fixed star of certainty and success. I can guide you to the thrones of the Super-men. The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.”

KnowsMenBelieveSaidI CanStarsGuidesCertaintyFlamesFixedThronesLunaticAsylumsLunatic Asylums
Book:The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton
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