Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun, which one has either seen or not see.
Weitere Zitate von G.K. Chesterton
Zum Autor"Modern intelligence won't accept anything on authority. But it will accept anything without authority."
"Science must not impose any philosophy, any more than the telephone must tell us what to say."
"Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."
"Once men sang together round a table in chorus; now one man sings alone, for the absurd reason that he can sing better. If our civilization goes on like this, only one man will laugh, because he can laugh better than the rest."
"A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent. He can only be saved by will or faith. The moment his mere reason moves, it moves in the old circular rut; he will go round and round his logical circle."
"Strike a glass and it will not endure an instant. Simply do not strike it and it will endure a thousand years."