Sunday, March 27, 2011

Old Wisdom #1: G.K. Chesterton

(In this column, I'll find some quotes from someone who lived long ago who held views rarely heard of in our current time and culture that I think are worthy of remembrance and application.)

G.K. Chesterton was an English writer during the early 1900s. Check out his biography here.

"To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it." - A Short History of England, Ch.10

"The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right." - ILN 10-28-22

"Progress is a comparative of which we have not settled the superlative." - Chapter 2, Heretics, 1905

"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around." - Orthodoxy, 1908

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." - ILN, 1/14/11

"The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man." - Chapter 19, What I Saw In America, 1922

"There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions." - ILN, 1/13/06

4 comments:

  1. Now here is a splendid idea for a recurring post (column, as you put it). Wisdom nuggets...wish I would have thought of that! HAHA! Anyway, I like the smart dead guys - and I agree with what you've implied; they have something very valuable to contribute to current thought.

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  2. totally. any recommendations for the next one?

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  3. "The reformer is always right about what is wrong. He is generally wrong about what is right." - ILN 10-28-22

    GAHHHH!!!! So Good and so humbling!

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  4. haha, I very much dislike talking politics, but there's definitely some deep truth there, Daniel.

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