“The universal mark of ‘social reforms’ is the general attempt of the wealthy to get the needy well under their control.”
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News Jan. 25, 1913, quoted in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 26 # 2 (Nov.-Dec. 2022)
“What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde in Lady Windemere's Fan [https://idiomorigins.org/origin/knows-the-price-of-everything-the-value-of-nothing and widely quoted online though often as “A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”]
“There’s an expression in chess: ‘Play the board, not the man.’ That’s not quite right. You want the bulk of your moves to be objective and analytical. But being good at chess also requires being good at reading people.”
Bruce Pandolfini in National Post April 24, 1999
“I can never hear of one of those savage or idolatrous faiths without wishing that I belonged to it. When I read of savages worshipping an odd-looking stone, I think what sensible fellows they must be. When I am told of a chieftain who believes he is descended from a shark, I wish sincerely that I could share his delusion. As a matter of intellect and conviction I believe in one religion; but, as a matter of fancy and sympathy I can believe in any number…. I can feel a sympathy for any religion that is a religion.”
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News Oct. 10, 1908, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 7 # 7 (June 2004)
In my latest Epoch Times column I say that an ideology, aka paradigm or worldview, is essential to coherent thought. So instead of the “I know you are but what am I?” spectacle of people trading cries of “ideologue” we should try to debate the reasons why we disagree about which evidence matters and what it says. And your goal should not be to avoid ideologies but to choose a sensible one.
“If there is not real responsibility for anything, why should we be responsible for either justice or mercy towards murderers?”
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News June 23, 1928, quoted in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 26 # 4 (March-April 2023)
“If you think wrong, you go wrong.”
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News September 12, 1914, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 11 #4 (Jan.-Feb. 2008)
“the waters are always smoothest and even most polished when they pour over the precipice.”
G.K. Chesterton quoted by Dale Ahlquist in “Chesterton University” in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 26 # 2 (Nov.-Dec. 2022) [with particular reference to those topics on which polite society and the Establishment stifle debate]