The Complete Thinker Quotes

“All proof begins with something which cannot be proved, but can only be perceived or accepted, and is called an axiom or first principle.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes being corrected.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“Popular science tries to define realities, and then finds that the definition can be extended to any number of unrealities.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“In our existing political conditions, when everybody agrees about something, it is generally untrue.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“The moderns say that they are leaving the past, because it is exhausted; but they lie. They are escaping from the past because it is so strong.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“We already use catchwords as substitutes for thinking, thereby limiting our vocabulary along with the use of our brains. In”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“The moment sex ceases to be a servant it becomes a tyrant.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“The two first facts which a healthy boy or girl feels about sex are these: first that it is beautiful and then that it is dangerous. . . . [A]ll”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable. Never”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“   Everyone’s belief is everyone else’s concern.24    Those who talk of “tolerating all opinions” are very provincial bigots who are only familiar with one opinion.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“Chesterton says that thinking is the hardest work in the world. And hard work, he says, is repugnant to our nature.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“when I say that children should be taught to think I do not mean (like many moderns) that they should be taught to doubt; for the two processes are not only not the same, but are in many ways opposite. To doubt is only to destroy; to think is to create.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“Life comes from God, and is fulfilled in God (“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”29). Liberty comes from God and is fulfilled in God (“[T]he truth will make you free”30). Likewise, the hunger for happiness comes from God and is fulfilled only in God. We are only happy when we are at peace with God (“You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you”31). The pursuit of happiness has an end: happiness. The pursuit of pleasure does not end in pleasure, because pleasure is not an end. It does not fulfill; it flees.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“But the problem is that “inclusiveness” and “tolerance” are dogmas. It is not dogma that divides people. It is dogma that brings people together. The ultimate common bond is truth. That is why it is worth arguing about.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“The exception has become the rule, and that is the worst of all possible tyrannies.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“   There is now a false idealism of turning Government into God, by a vague notion that it gives everything to everybody; to the denial of the liberty given by God, which is called life. . . .”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“There are, he claims, two kinds of people in the world: those who are dogmatic and know it, and those who are dogmatic and don’t know it.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“Those who merely denounce intolerance seem to have no theory at all with which to defend toleration.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“We do not live in a truth-seeking age. We live in a pleasure-seeking age. With pleasure as our goal, we are destined for disappointment. “The very fury with which people go on seeking pleasure is a proof that they have not found it.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“If truth is relative, to what is it relative?”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“   In order to know the truth it is necessary to desire the truth, especially the truth that you do not know.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“In an age of universal education, nobody knows where anything comes from. The”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“The aim of argument is differing in order to agree; the failure of argument is when you agree to differ.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes being corrected.24 The Conservative Party suddenly becomes the Liberal Party the instant it is liberated from responsibility. The Liberal Party suddenly becomes the Conservative Party the instant it has anything to conserve.25 Both modern parties believe in a government by the few; the only difference is whether it is the Conservative few or the Progressive few.26 When Conservatives, Liberals, and Socialists all agree, it is time for the larger and more harmless part of mankind to look after its pockets.27 And it was while in America that he made his famous comment: “It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged.”28 The irony of this gallows humor lies in the fact that it is the politicians who are supposed to be upholding justice that should instead be brought to justice. They should be upholding the right to life, but they have done just the opposite. While the right to life is the most ignored, and the right to liberty the most abused, the right to pursue happiness is the most misunderstood. Obviously the third is dependent on the first two. With no life and no liberty there is no pursuit of happiness.”
― Dale Ahlquist, The Complete Thinker: The Marvelous Mind of G.K. Chesterton