Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It is human to err; and the only final and deadly error, among all our errors, is denying that we have ever erred.
To be simple is the best thing in the world; to be modest is the next best thing. I am not sure about being quiet.
The modern world is a crowd of very rapid racing cars all brought to a standstill and stuck in a block of traffic.
If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God.
But since he stood for England And knew what England means, Unless you give him bacon You must not give him beans.
Over-civilization and barbarism are within an inch of each other. And a mark of both is the power of medicine-men.
You may think a crime horrible because you could never commit it. I think it is horrible because I could commit it.
We call a man a bigot or a slave of dogma because he is a thinker who has thought thoroughly and to a definite end.
Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.
A sober man may become a drunkard through being a coward. A brave man may become a coward through being a drunkard.
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
English experience indicates that when the two great political parties agree about something it is generally wrong.
You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.
By all men bond to Nothing, Being slaves without a lord, By one blind idiot world obeyed, Too blind to be abhorred.
Before the Roman came to Rye or out to severn strode, / The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
When a woman puts up her fists to a man she is putting herself in the only posture in which he is not afraid of her.
But we are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet. Smile at us, pay us, pass us. But do not quite forget.
The academic mind reflects infinity, and is full of light by the simple process of being shallow and standing still.
The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad.
This is the age in which thin and theoretic minorities can cover and conquer unconscious and untheoretic majorities.
Men reform a thing by removing the reality from it, and then do not know what to do with the unreality that is left.
When we really worship anything, we love not only its clearness but its obscurity. We exult in its very invisibility.
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.
The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do not say.
The real pleasure-seeking is the combination of luxury and austerity in such a way that the luxury can really be felt.
Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.
If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals.
The mind that finds its way to wild places is the poet's; but the mind that never finds its way back is the lunatic's.
The doctrine of human equality reposes on this: that there is no man really clever who has not found that he is stupid.
All good men are international. Nearly all bad men are cosmopolitan. If we are to be international we must be national.
I still believe in liberalism today as much as I ever did, but, oh, there was a happy time when I believed in liberals.
In the main, and from the beginning of time, mysticism has kept men sane. The thing that has driven them mad was logic.
When once you have got hold of a vulgar joke, you may be certain that you have got hold of a subtle and spiritual idea.
Nothing is poetical if plain daylight is not poetical; and no monster should amaze us if the normal man does not amaze.
The philosophy of this world may be founded on facts, but its business is run on spiritual impressions and atmospheres.
And though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.
In the glad old days, before the rise of modern morbidities...it used to be thought a disadvantage to be misunderstood.
Shouldn't atheist have an equal obligation to explain pleasure in a world of randomness. Where does pleasure come from?
Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.
Is there anyone... who will maintain that the Party System could have been created by people particularly fond of truth?
The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of something he cannot understand.
Men rush towards complexity, but they yearn towards simplicity. They try to be kings; but they dream of being shepherds.
I am going to hold a pistol to the head of the Modern Man. But I shall not use it to kill him–only to bring him to life.
The big corporation is not in the least remarkable for efficiency; it is only too big to be blamed for its inefficiency.
Mysticism keeps mankind sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity.
If you convey to a woman that something ought to be done, there is always a dreadful danger that she will suddenly do it.
We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.
Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.
The danger of loss of faith in God is not that one will believe in nothing, but rather that one will believe in anything.
Saint George he was for England, And before he killed the dragon he drank a pint of English ale out of an English flagon.