Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by G.K. Chesterton

Quote by G.K. Chesterton

“It really is more natural to believe a preternatural story, that deals with things we don’t understand, than a natural story that contradicts things we do understand. Tell me that the great Mr Gladstone, in his last hours, was haunted by the ghost of Parnell, and I will be agnostic about it. But tell me that Mr Gladstone, when first presented to Queen Victoria, wore his hat in her drawing-room and slapped her on the back and offered her a cigar, and I am not agnostic at all. That is not impossible; it’s only incredible. But I’m much more certain it didn’t happen than that Parnell’s ghost didn’t appear; because it violates the laws of the world I do understand.”

Quote by G.K. Chesterton

Book:The Complete Father Brown
Create image

Work

The Complete Father Brown

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

G.K. Chesterton

Browse famous quotes and profile details for G.K. Chesterton. more

You May Also Like

“It’s what I call common sense, properly understood,’ replied Father Brown. ’It really is more natural to believe a preternatural story, that deals with things we don’t understand, than a natural story that contradicts things we do understand. Tell me that the great Mr Gladstone, in his last hours, was haunted by the ghost of Parnell, and I will be agnostic about it. But tell me that Mr Gladstone, when first presented to Queen Victoria, wore his hat in her drawing-room and slapped her on the back and offered her a cigar, and I am not agnostic at all. That is not impossible; it’s only incredible. But I’m much more certain it didn’t happen than that Parnell’s ghost didn’t appear; because it violates the laws of the world I do understand. So it is with that tale of the curse. It isn’t the legend that I disbelieve — it’s the history.”

ImpossibleImplausible
Book:The Incredulity of Father Brown
Create image

“Debbie Nathan blames the early symptoms on pernicious anemia yet explains their supposed remission by Shirley’s being out of contact with Dr. Wilbur for those 9 years. But Dr. Wilbur never diagnosed a dissociative disorder in 1945. Nathan does not seem to recognize the implausibility of Dr. Wilbur creating via suggestion a complex dissociative disorder in five sessions, particularly when the doctor herself did not diagnose it. Nathan attributes Shirley’s postintegration improvement in functioning to being out of contact with Dr. Wilbur rather than to the therapy. But the pernicious anemia continued to be undiagnosed and untreated during that time period, so any symptoms due to it should have continued rather than showing an improvement that coincided with psychotherapy with Dr. Wilbur. Debbie Nathan’s thesis is self-contradictory.”

Dissociative Identity DisorderMultiple Personality DisorderPseudoscienceSybilFalse Memory MythSybil ExposedImplausible
Author:Colin A. Ross
Create image

“Sometimes you escape from the darkness of the shadow and sometimes you take refuge in its mystery! A whole life consists of running away from the same things and then taking shelter in the same things! Escape, then search for what you are escaping from! Always like this! Escape from people, then seek people out; escape from the sun, then look for the sun! Always the same game!”

Life QuotesMehmet Murat Ildan QuotesLife Quotes And SayingsLife QuotationsEscapeEscape QuotesEscape Quotations
Author:Mehmet Murat Ildan
Create image

“Before being sworn into office, every head of state should spend a week in space, gathering some sense of the insurmountable gravity of our little blue home in the unfathomable vastness of the cosmos. Perhaps then when they return to earth, they could actually work for the benefit of the people of earth, rather than wasting their term in office like yet another tribal savage obsessing over petty nationalistic agenda.”

NationalismWorld PeaceDiplomacyInternational RelationsPeace ActivistGlobal CitizenGeopoliticsGlobalismWorld Leaders
Book:Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets
Create image