G. K. Chesterton on thinking

‘My country, right or wrong’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying, except in a desperate case. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober’.

The first two facts which a healthy boy or girl feels about sex are these: first that it is beautiful and then that it is dangerous.

The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man.

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.

Eleanor Roosevelt1884–1962

• Ideas

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

Aristotle384–322 BC

• Education
• Ideas

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

Confucius551–479 BC

• Education