Finished Reading “Heretics”

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  "G. K. Chesterton, the "Prince of Paradox," is at his witty best in this collection of twenty essays and articles from the turn of the twentieth century. Focusing on  "heretics" - those who pride themselves on their superiority to Christian views - Chesterton appraises prominent figures who fall into that category from the literary and art worlds... those who hold incomplete and inadequate views about "life, the universe, and everything." He is, in short, criticizing all that host of non-Christian views of reality, as he demonstrated in his follow-up book Orthodoxy. The book is both an easy read and a difficult read. But he manages to demonstrate, among other things, that our new 21st century heresies are really not new because he himself deals with most of them." (Goodreads)

A Few Collected Statements on Reading and The Rational Mind

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  • Some read just enough to keep themselves misinformed. (Amish proverb)
  • The man is sure to go wrong in his thinking whose aim is to get for himself. (possibly H.L. Mencken)
  • Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. (G.K. Chesterton)
  • There is no worse error than to seek intellectual remedy for moral grief. (Gaston Frommel)
  • Beat not out thy brains to fathom the un-revealed. (Harold Will)
  • It is not honking your horn that keeps you out of trouble as much as steering wisely. (Headline in the "Butter, Cheese & Egg Journal" July 12, 1922)
  • Knowledge is power under three conditions: if it is knowledge of things worth knowing; if it is known by a person worthy of using it; if it be used. (anon)
  • A brain is as strong as its weakest think. (Thomas Masson)
  • Hell hath no fury like a zealot trying to prove a theory. (anon)
  • True wisdom is seldom gained without suffering. (Sir Arthur Helps)

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