Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

It is salutary for us to learn to hold cheap such things, be they good or evil, as attach indifferently to good men and bad, and to covet those good things which belong only to good men, and flee those evils which belong only to evil men.

Justice shines in very smoky homes, and honors the righteous; but the gold-spangled mansions where the hands are unclean she leaves with eyes averted.

It is not living that matters, but living rightly.

For I can raise no money by vile means.

One that confounds good and evil is an enemy to good.

Honor sinks where commerce long prevails.

Truth made you a traitor as it often does in a time of scoundrels.

There is in the end no remedy but truth. It is the one course that cannot be evil.

More precious is want with honesty than wealth with infamy.

A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains.

There are some acts of justice which corrupt those who perform them.

It is impossible to deny that dishonest men often grow rich and famous, becoming powerful in their parish or in parliament. Their portraits grace shop windows; and they live and die respected. This success is theirs; yet it is not the success which a noble soul will envy.

In public life as in private life, a man of the very highest repute will occasionally go wrong..

Right and wrong are not relative terms. There are fundamental truths. Evil flourishes, but good men continue to battle it - and win.

The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome.

The best and only safe road to honor, glory, and true dignity is justice.

Good men are often more practical than pretty " said Mother. "Andrius just happens to be both.

Worthy of honor is he who does no injustice, and more than twofold honor, if he not only does no injustice himself, but hinders others from doing any.

A good man's life is all of a piece.

The generous person is always just, and the just who is always generous may, unannounced, approach the throne of heaven.

Justice, not expedience, must be the guiding light. The orator must fix his eye on the polestar of justice, and plough straight thither. The moment he glances toward expediency, he falls from his high estate.

If they are just, they are better than clever.

Neither bribe nor loose thy right.

Justice extorts no reward, no kind of price; she is sought, therefore, for her own sake.