There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped.
No man demands what he desires; each man demands what he fancies he can get. Soon people forget what the man really wanted first; and after a successful and vigorous political life, he forgets it hims...
My best friends are all either bottomless skeptics or quite uncontrollable believers . . . .
It is the one great weakness of journalism as a picture of our modern existence, that it must be a picture made up entirely of exceptions. We announce on flaring posters that a man has fallen off a sc...
It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher in Smithfield Market because they do not agree in their theory of the universe. That was done very frequently in...
If a man is genuinely superior to his fellows the first thing that he believes in is the equality of man.
I'm afraid I'm a practical man,' said the doctor with gruff humour, 'and I don't bother much about religion and philosophy.' 'You'll never be a practical man till you do,' said Father Brown. 'Look her...
I want to be taken to a madhouse, said Turnbull distinctly, giving the direction with a sort of precision. I want to go back to exactly the same lunatic asylum from which I came. Why? asked the unknow...
I could forgive you even your cruelty if it were not for your calm.
Bigotry is an incapacity to conceive seriously the alternative to a proposition.
Always be comic in a tragedy
Always be comic in a tragedy. What the deuce else can you do?
All the jokes about men sitting down on their hats are really theological jokes; they are concerned with the Dual Nature of Man. They refer to the primary paradox that man is superior to all the thing...
The issue is now quite clear. It is between light and darkness and every one must choose his side.
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.
You know I always liked you, said Fisher, quietly, but I also respect you, which is not always the same thing. You may possibly guess that I like a good many people I don't respect. Perhaps it is my t...
To begin with, we must protest against a habit of quoting and paraphrasing at the same time. When a man is discussing what Jesus meant, let him state first of all what He said, not what the man thinks...
The servants of God who had been a besieged garrison became a marching army; the ways of the world were filled as with thunder with the trampling of their feet and far ahead of that ever swelling host...
The modern writers who have suggested, in a more or less open manner, that the family is a bad institution, have generally confined themselves to suggesting, with much sharpness, bitterness, or pathos...
Like every book I never wrote, it is by far the best book I have ever written.