Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find that far more, and far more hideous, crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.

A thousand men enslaved fear one beast free.

I'm a slave to this leaf in a diary that lists what I must do, what I must say, every half hour.

Virtue cannot dwell with slaves, nor reign O'er those who cower to take a tyrant's yoke.

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.

Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. It makes a mockery of freedom of speech.

Our countrymen have all the folly of the ass and all the passiveness of the sheep .... They are determined not to be free.

He wants to enslave you.' 'I shudder at the thought of being free.

It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.

Man puts manacles on his fellow-man; God never.

It is hard to have a Southern overseer; it is worse to have a Northern one; but worst of all when you are yourself the slave-driver.

Tremble, all ye oppressors of the world!

The human race is a herd. Here we are, unique, eternal aspects of consciousness with an infinity of potential, and we have allowed ourselves to become an unthinking, unquestioning blob of conformity and uniformity. A herd. Once we concede to the herd mentality, we can be controlled and directed by a tiny few. And we are.

The world today is divided into the free and the enslaved.

There is no such thing as liberty. You only change one sort of domination for another. All we can do is to choose our master.

Corrupted freemen are the worst of slaves.

It is bad to have a servant, but worse to have a master.

Man’s freedom is lacking if somebody else controls what he needs, for need may result in man’s enslavement of man..

Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.

Rebellion! the very word is a confession; an avowal of tyranny, outrage, and oppression. It is taken from the despot's code, and has no terror for others than slavish souls.

War is the second worst activity of mankind, the worst being acquiescence in slavery.

Slavery is the cause of treason and sustains it everywhere it exists.

To disarm the people—that was the best and most effective way to enslave them.

The difference between being out of step with a dictator and being out of step with the democratic majority is practically negligible. The important thing is to be in step.