Power Quote
Chesterton Redux
We have all read in scientific books, and, indeed, in all romances, the story of the man who has forgotten his name. This man walks about the streets and can see and appreciate everything; only he cannot remember who he is. Well, every man is that man in the story. Every man has forgotten who he is. One may understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God; but thou shalt not know thyself. We are all under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality and positivism only means that for certain dead levels of our life we forget that we have forgotten. All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful instant we remember that we forget.
– Orthodoxy, Chapter Four, “The Ethics of Elfland”
Tags: G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
i read an essay once about how chesterton was the master of so-called “epigrammatic” writing. it’s interesting to read his books with this in mind–just how easily whole paragraphs or single sentences can be viewed as epigrams, and it certainly helps explain why these stand-alone quotes are so powerful.
love that man.
i read an essay once about how chesterton was the master of so-called “epigrammatic” writing. it’s interesting to read his books with this in mind–just how easily whole paragraphs or single sentences can be viewed as epigrams, and it certainly helps explain why these stand-alone quotes are so powerful.
love that man.
Yeah, line by line he’s really incredible. I happen to think the case he’s making is provocative & fascinating, but I suspect that even if I didn’t I would be just as taken with the prose.
Yeah, line by line he’s really incredible. I happen to think the case he’s making is provocative & fascinating, but I suspect that even if I didn’t I would be just as taken with the prose.
this is pretty fantastic. and a really interesting response (whether intended or not) to blake’s blank bodies post.
this is pretty fantastic. and a really interesting response (whether intended or not) to blake’s blank bodies post.