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

— G. K. Chesterton

Large organization is loose organization. Nay it would be almost as true to say that organization is always disorganization.

— G. K. Chesterton

Leisure is being allowed to do nothing.

— G. K. Chesterton

Men always talk about the most important things to perfect strangers.

— G. K. Chesterton

Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind as of opening the mouth is to shut it again on something solid.

— G. K. Chesterton

New roads new ruts.

— G. K. Chesterton

No man can be merry unless he is serious.

— G. K. Chesterton

Of all modern notions the worst is this: that domesticity is dull. Inside the home they say is dead decorum and routine outside is adventure and variety. But the truth is that the home is the only place of liberty the only spot on earth where a man can alter arrangements suddenly make an experiment or indulge in a whim. The home is not the one tame place in a world of adventure it is the one wild place in a world of rules and set tasks.

— G. K. Chesterton

One may understand the cosmos but never the ego the self is more distant than any star.

— G. K. Chesterton

One sees great things from the valley only small things from the peak.

— G. K. Chesterton