Quotes by G. K. Chesterton

True contentment is the power of getting of any situation all that there is in it.

The historic glory of America lies in the fact that it is the one nation that was founded like a church. That is it was founded on a faith that was not merely summed up after it had exited but was defined before it existed.

Forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable faith means believing the unbelievable and hoping means to hope when things are hopeless.

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera and grace before the play and pantomime and grace before I open a book and grace before sketching painting swimming fencing boxing walking playing dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

It matters very little whether a man is discontented in the name of pessimism or progress if his discontent does in fact paralyse his power of appreciating what he has got.

The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.

True contentment... is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare.

We make our friends we make our enemies but God makes our next-door neighbour.

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act but I do believe in a fate that falls on men unless they act.

There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner.

The true object of human life is play.

The word good has many meanings. For example if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards I should call him a good shot but not necessarily a good man.

Happiness is a mystery like religion and it should never be rationalized.

The true object of all human life is play.

No man can be merry unless he is serious.

Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time he is not two men but one and he has saved not only his soul but his life.

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost.

Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate.

Forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable Faith means believing the unbelievable And hoping means to hope when things are hopeless.

A tragedy means always a mans struggle with that which is stronger than man.