“If we come upon a dead man, we start back in horror. Are we not to start with any generous emotion when we come upon a living man, that far greater mystery? Are we to have any gratitude for the positive miracles of life? We thank a man for passing the mustard; is there indeed nothing that we can thank for the man who passes it?”

G.K. Chesterton in “The Experiment of Mr. Buck” in The Napoleon of Notting Hill, quoted in “Why Do You Ask Me Rhetorical Questions? – 5” in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 27 #1 (Sept.-Oct. 2023)

“If you know too much, you cannot move.”

A Korean proverb according to someone called Kee though the rest of my bibliographic note to self is incomprehensible.

“dogma: the serious satisfaction of the mind. Dogma does not mean the absence of thought, but the end of thought.”

G.K. Chesterton, “The Victorian Compromise,” in The Victorian Age in Literature, quoted in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 6 #3 (Dec. 2002)

“If the dogmas are true, what can you do but try to get men to agree with them?”

G.K. Chesterton in Daily News Feb. 13, 1906, quoted in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 26 # 4 (March-April 2023)

“Go back to the idea of government by ideas.”

G.K. Chesterton in “The Revolt Against Ideas,” in The Thing, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 10 #6 (4-5/07)

In my latest Epoch Times column I praise people for observing the externals of Christmas then urge them to open their hearts, minds and ears just a little wider while singing carols.

“With your usual rapid grasp of the inessentials, you regard the mushrooms as the most important element of Mr. Hillerman’s plan.”

A character in Jack Hitt, ed., The Perfect Murder

He had many dinners alone with General George Marshall during the war, after “two stiff, bourbon old-fashioneds which the Chief liked to mix himself. There would be talk of course, but absolutely no war talk. That day he probably had had to make decisions that affected the fate of nations; tomorrow he would face problems equally crucial. But that evening he would be calm and unworried as he listened to my chatting. Once, I asked him how he stood up under the strain; he answered: ‘I’ve had to train myself never to worry about a decision once it’s made. You worry before you make it, but not after. You make the best judgement you can about a problem – then forget it. If you don’t, your mind is not fit to make the next decision.’”

Frank Capra The Name Above the Title