"Progress is a comparative for which we have not settled the superlative" (1905)
"Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm because they are afraid to look back" (1910)
"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around" (1908)
10 comments:
Gotta love GKC.
Wonderful quotes.
Might I add that I've learned that the worst mistake people make is looking to the current and future for answers instead of looking back to solutions that have stood the test of time.
The older I get, the more I realize our ancestors had our best interests at heart. And they had a lot of experience with human nature.
B+
The disadvantage that our ancestors have is that the living are the ones who can rewrite history.
LOL, Goomba. Yes, Pres. B+ (new nickname?) now has the lowest approval ratings at this point of a pres. term in history.
Rhod, thanks the for "old school" conservatism. As you know, when things "hit the fan", what gets people out alive is what they know already ... their training and past experience.
Chesterton is regarded as kitsch and shmaltz by the cognoscenti. You can't get a higher recommendation than that, I'd say.
Exactly, DC, and maybe the feet of Mercury.
Most of all, I miss the old farmers of my youth, who still remembered why people didn't do certain things. There always was a reason that a certain plot of land remained "unimproved" or a certain kind of tree was never planted. Nobody ever asked their opinion, of course, because their memories were not certified by a degree or a license, and there was no money to be made on them, but, 20 years later, when the newly "improved" land was under 15 feet of floodwater or the "new variety" of tree was attracting so many birds that the city planners were having the birds sterilized, I'd remember the old mens' faces as they shook their heads and said, "They'll be sorry." We've got a lot more--and far worse--lessons on the way from ignoring the obvious facts of history.
Walking around today that is.
"Men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm because they are afraid to look back."
The best ideals i know are the Ten Commandments -- GOD's Word. People today invented "politically correct" to circumvent GOD's standards of correctness...well, time doesn't have to tell where this new invention will end up -- in the trash heap of GOD's economy.
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