To a lucid mind Imperialism and patriotism are opposite; patriotism means that boundaries are sacred, and Imperialism means that they are not.

-May 14, 1910, Daily News

"Men never enjoy so much the blazing sun and the rushing wind as when they are out hunting the Devil."

Men are never more awake to the good in the world than when they are furiously awake to the evil in the world. Men never enjoy so much the blazing sun and the rushing wind as when they are out hunting the Devil. On the other hand, there are no people so dreary as philosophical optimists; and men are never so little happy as when they are constantly reassured. Such men have begun by calling the moon as bright as the sun, but they end only by seeing the sun as pallid as the moon. They have made a shameful treaty with shame; and the mark of it is on them. Everything is good, except their own spirits.

-December 16, 1905, Daily News

"...that strength in reserve which is called laziness"

The dispute that goes on between Macbeth and his wife about the murder of Duncan is almost word for word a dispute which goes on at any suburban breakfast-table about something else. It is merely a matter of changing "Infirm of purpose, give me the daggers", into "infirm of purpose, give me the postage stamps" [...]The strengths of the two partners differ in kind. The woman has more of that strength on the spot which is called industry. The man has more of that strength in reserve which is called laziness.

-The Spice of Life
(collection of essays published posthumously in 1964)

"They all were moderns in their day"

Ballade of Moderns

On deserts red and deserts grey
The temples into sand have slid;
Go search that splendour of decay
To find the final secret hid
In mummies' painted coffin-lid
In hieroglyphs of hunt and play.
Read the last word, my cultured kid,
They all were moderns in their day.

Yes, it was just as bold and gay
To do what Astoreth forbad.
Yes, it was smart to carve in clay
And chic to build a pyramid.
Yes, Babylonian boys were chid
For reading hieroglyphs risqué.
We do but as our fathers did --
They all were moderns in their day.

There are progressives who passed away
And prigs of whom the world is rid,
And there are men in hell today
As silly as old Ben Kidd;
And Webb (whose uncle calls him Sid),
God made him with the flowers of May,
And the blind stones he walked amid.
They all were moderns in their day.

L'Envoi

Prince, still the soul stands virgin; "quid
Times"; we tear some rags away
But shall we grasp her; God forbid.
They all were moderns in their day.

[H/T http://branemrys.blogspot.com/]

Just a quick post to say I've updated my short GKC quotes list a little (adding  about a dozen more quotes or so the other day).

http://platitudesundone.blogspot.com/2012/01/short-gkc-quotes-list.html

Yes, I'm still here. Hope to get back into the habit of posting regularly soon.

If children see that their teachers despise what their parents desire, there is and must be a conflict of authorities. And there is, and must be, in the modern State, a monstrous discovery; that it is the more new and unnatural authority that has the power.

-December 27, 1918, New Witness

H/T G.K. and Frances Chesterton Facebook page

...whatever else is powerful, a vote is, at this moment, almost powerless....The elections are so artificially inaugurated, the alternative between Tweedledum and Tweedledee is so artificially explained, and the professional politicians once chosen are so artificially protected that the ordinary elector has almost no effect on the ultimate decisions of our politics.

-July 16, 1910, Daily News

Those who dislike definite religious systems often talk of people 'swallowing' doctrines, and there is a truth in the metaphor, though not as they commonly use it. There is no great harm in swallowing a thing if it feeds you. The great objection to swallowing a thing is that it generally chokes you. And that is exactly what happens to those eager idealists who merely accept words like 'truth' or 'life' or 'progress', as satisfying their spiritual hunger. The words do not so much nourish their spiritual bodies as stop their spiritual breath. Such ideal phrases really are what they say 'dogmas' are: a thing that stops the mind.

-December 28, 1912, Daily News