"It is incomprehensible to me that any thinker can calmly call himself a modernist; he might as well call himself a Thursdayite. ... The real objection to modernism is simply that it is a form of snobbishness. It is an attempt to crush a rational opponent not by reason, but by some mystery of superiority, by hinting that one is specially up to date or particularly "in the know." To flaunt the fact that we have had all the last books from Germany is simply vulgar; like flaunting the fact that we have had all the last bonnets from Paris. To introduce into philosophical discussions a sneer at a creed's antiquity is like introducing a sneer at a lady's age. It is caddish because it is irrelevant. The pure modernist is merely a snob; he cannot bear to be a month behind the fashion."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
The Case for the Ephemeral
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."