G.K. Chesterton Quotes

For my monthly spiritual retreat last Friday, I decided to take along G.K. Chesterton's book Orthodoxy. I had received it in a one of the Relevant Network kits several months ago (perhaps even a couple of years ago), and decided to make it my companion for the day, along with my Bible and another book written by a friend from my church.

After enjoying several chapters in the book of John, I read more of my friend's book than I intended, so I did not get through Orthodoxy as I had planned. Orthodoxy is a small book, so I thought I could get through it in one day. But then I realized Chesterton wrote this book in 1908, so the language might force me to read slower and more carefully in comprehending Chesterton's points. While that assessment has been correct, I've been amazed at how much I've not only understood, but remembered afterwards. I've found myself laughing at Chesterton's wit, and amazed at his nimble mind. (His body was not as nimble as a 300-400 pound man!)

I've thought several times as I've read "I need to share that!" so here is a collection of some quotes from Orthodoxy:

Concerning the writing of his "philosophy"...
"I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me."

On trying to be original in his own philosophy and theology...
"I did, like all other solemn little boys, try to be in advance of the age. Like them I tried to be some ten minutes in advance of the truth. And I found that I was eighteen hundred years behind it."

"I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy."

Concerning beauty and appreciation...
"Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde."

Out of a strain of thought on pessimism and optimism...
"About the same time, I read a solemn flippancy by some free thinker [atheist]: he said that a suicide was only the same as a martyr. The open fallacy of this helped to clear the question. Obviously a suicide is the opposite of a martyr. A martyr is a man who cares so much for something outside him, that he forgets his own personal life. A suicide is a man who cares so little for anything outside him, that he wants to see the last of everything. One wants something to begin: the other wants everything to end."

On why Christianity is better suited to aid the world's ills than science or Socialism...
"Christianity, even when watered down, is hot enough to boil all modern society to rags."

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Perhaps I'll have more Chesterton quotes to share before I finish the book (and I probably missed several other really good ones - which is why I should probably learn to underline and highlight books...), but I wanted to at least share these before I forgot.