"We are then able to answer in some manner the question, "Why have we no great men?" We have no great men chiefly because we are always looking for them. We are connoisseurs of greatness, and connoisseurs can never be great; we are fastidious, that is, we are small. When Diogenes went about with a lantern looking for an honest man, I am afraid he had very little time to be honest himself. And when anybody goes about on his hands and knees looking for a great man to worship, he is making sure that one man at any rate shall not be great."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch 1: "The Dickens Period"
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 β 14 June 1936) was a British writer whose prolific and diverse output included works of philosophy, ontology, poetry, play writing, journalism, public lecturing and debating, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics (particularly for Catholicism), and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction. He has been called the "prince of paradox".
261 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by G. K. Chesterton β
Related Quotes
"When we reverence anything in the mature, it is their virtues or their wisdom, and this is an easy matter. But we revβ¦"
"Skrattar bΓ€st som skrattar sist."
"Landets seder, landets heder."
"A hedge between keeps friends green."
"It is always the secure who are humble."
"[Dickens] was the character whom anybody can hurt and nobody can kill."
"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions."
"Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance."
"A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things."
"There is one creed: 'neath no world-terror's wing Apples forget to grow on apple-trees."