“Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. It is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”
Happy birthday, G.K. Chesterton. He was born on this date in 1874. And yet there are few writers whose words are more relevant to the era we’re living in:
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
“The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”
“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly; devils fall because of their gravity.”
“The word ‘good’ has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.”
“Pessimism is not in being tired of evil but in being tired of good. Despair does not lie in being weary of suffering, but in being weary of joy.”
“Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul.”
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”
“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.”
“There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place.”
“To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.”
Happy birthday, G.K.
and thank you.
Excellent quotes by this man. Thanks for sharing them, Mitch!
My pleasure, Terry.
cora
Remarkable man and writer. Thank you for sharing these quotes. I will add them to my favorite quotes notebook!
Wow, some great quotes. I particularly love the last one.
cora when will you use the same pen & same page to write from 0 to 100
It’s OK, Rudy. You can be happy even if Cora doesn’t see your notes or do that.
she is probably been busy as she comment last time she has other commitments at this time
Great Quotes
“There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place.” Wow , powerful 💯💯💯💯
Lots to think about in these little quotes. Thank you for sharing them, Mitch.
My pleasure, Jean.
Great quotes to ponder. Thank you for sharing. Here is something I believe in: Without faith , there is no hope,
These are the kind of quotes that might make you smile, but they also make you think.
Exactly, Mary.
> “There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place.”
Your timing, as usual, is impeccable. I was desperately trying to remember that quote for a recent blog post…
https://2transform.us/2025/05/26/relational-space-navigating-everything-jesus-commanded-us-to-do/
Beautiful quotes!
Excellent quotes, especially the one about home. Thanks for sharing
My pleasure, Sarah.
I love Chesterton. Here’s one of my favorites from him: “When I fancied that I stood alone I was really in the ridiculous position of being backed up by all of Christendom.”
Awesome quotes. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure, Carolyn!
🙂
Yet, Hope doesn’t have to be when everything is hopeless. For if someone has faith in Jesus Christ then they know that they have hope, real hope. For real hope is only by faith in Jesus Christ, and He is the only real hope of the world. ✝️🕊
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”—Galatians 2:20, NASB
2:45
Such a lot of wisdom some of it wry and dry and all of it very true.
IF someone said that fairytales are not real, than they have realized this too late
“Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly; devils fall because of their gravity.”❤️
What wonderful quotes! Thanks for sharing, Mitch.
My pleasure, Peggy.
Wonderful post
I love the wisdom and wit of Lord Chesterton and thanks for the post, Mitch. One of my favorites is “If there were no God, there would be no atheists.” Dirt
Yes!
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.” – a long pause.
These are wonderful quotes. Thankyou.
My pleasure, Iba.
Such a nice post! Chesterton and his writings, his paradoxical sayings… really one of a kind! One of my all time favorite is “It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” 🙂 To me, reading his books… Orthodoxy, for instance, also gave the feeling he had the eye and heart of a poet. Another amazing thought of his is this, “The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.” In many ways, his style and writings also remind me of Walt Whitman’s poems, and Emerson’s essays too… all born in Gemini season. There must be something in the May-June air, for sure 🙂
Always been a fan of G.K. Chesterton – he had such a way with words! Thank you for the reminder to follow him up again, Linda 🙂
My pleasure, Linda.
Perspicacious expressions from an insightful man.
These are all awesome quotes, Mitch. I especially love the first one.
wonderful quote. love GK Chesterton.
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It is funny because in Asia dragons are sent to help
If a person is a Christian they need to be careful concerning the minds and imaginations of mankind. For not all fantasies or imaginations are good or promote the Kingdom of God. Christians shouldn’t romanticize dragons, fairies, or other “magical” or “mystical” creatures that are evil. Rather Christians should promote that which is godly, not that which isn’t of God.
For what are “fairies” or other such things? Are they just works of vivid imaginations or Angels or demons mistaken as something else due to ignorance? What of dragons? Sure there are children’s stories and fairytales were a knight in shining armor saves a beautiful damsel by slaying a dragon, or the knight wins the heart of a beautiful damsel because of his bravery in slaying a dragon, or a young man becomes a knight by slaying a dragon and receives the prize of the king’s daughter for a wife.
However, in the spiritual realm dragons are evil, for they are devils/demons. In fact, the Bible refers to Satan as the old dragon or serpent and the “red dragon” (ref. Revelation 12). This is something people need to be aware of but not glorify. So, Christians mustn’t glamorize or promote evil. Christians need to be spiritually minded and discerning.
Absolutely 😁 I love this 🙏🏾😊
Great perspectives.
So when my wife says I’m hopeless 🤔🕶️
she really means I’m loveable 😎 Thanks
for the translation, G.K.Chesterson 🙏
;>)
Thanks for the quotes, yes quite a writer to remember in these fractious times
Yes! That’s why fairy tales need to be read to children. Thank goodness I do that!
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