As he walked where the town opened into a country road, he had suddenly realised that he was happy. His cure was complete. The disease of disdain for common things no longer devoured his brain, and yet his appreciation of the common was no nearer to the vulgar. Indeed, the common things around him, the stones in the road, the weeds in the ditch, stood out with a distinctness that was the reverse of flat. It was as if he had felt the third dimension for the first time. It reminded him of something his friend had said about religion, as compared with the mere herding both of Capitalism and Communism. "There is a delicacy about the Day of Judgment." It was at least supposed to deal with individuals. "Yes, that is it," he said to himself. "They used to say in the sight of God we are all equal. But if you only say that, it sounds flat; like all those flat-faced Bisons. No, in the sight of God we are all distinguished. We may be damned; but, damn it all, we're distinguished."
-"The End of Wisdom" (1931), found in Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, volume XIV
That is very good. I had never read this work before. It is that third dimension that I find fascinating :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I want to thank you for the tremendous amount of resources you have on this site it's awesome!
ReplyDeleteSecondly I would like to ask you if you happen to know or a fact about the books he read Chesterton in his lifetime or how many books he had in their personal library?
My name is Ricardo Garcia :)
Maria
ReplyDeleteThat is very good. I had never read this work before. It is that third dimension that I find fascinating :)
Heh. :-)
Hi Ricardo,
Thank-you!
As for your questions, I am not quite sure how to answer those questions, unfortunately, other than "a lot". lol. Perhaps somebody associated with the American Chesterton Society might know something more specific? Here is there Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/AmericanChestertonSociety
God bless!
Thanks for your answer, God bless you too! :)
ReplyDelete