The Wit and Wisdom of G.K. Chesterton

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

“Journalism consists largely in saying ‘Lord Jones is dead’ to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive.”

“The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”

“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”

“It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.”

“All men are ordinary men; the extraordinary men are those who know it.”

“The most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher. Compared to him, burglars and bigamists are essentially moral men.”

“What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity.”

“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”

“Wit is a fighting thing and a working thing. A man may enjoy humour all by himself; he may see a joke when no one else sees it; he may see the point and avoid it. But wit is a sword; it is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it. All honest people saw the point of Mark Twain’s wit. Not a few dishonest people felt it.”

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

“Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.”

“A businessman is the only man who is forever apologizing for his occupation.”

“Feminism is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.”

“I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles.”

“A detective story generally describes six living men discussing how it is that a man is dead. A modern philosophic story generally describes six dead men discussing how any man can possible be alive.”

“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”

“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.”

“There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.”

“We call a man a bigot or a slave of dogma because he is a thinker who has thought thoroughly and to a definite end.”

Have your own favorite Chesterton quote? Be sure to share it down in the comments section! I’d love to hear it!

I Know I Will Be Alone

Carriers is a 2007 film set in the post-apocalyptic wake of a lethal pandemic. Directed by David and Alex Pastor, it follows a small group of survivors – Brian (Chris Pine), his brother Danny (Lou Taylor Pucci), and their girlfriends, Bobby (Piper Perabo) and Kate (Emily VanCamp) – who hope to find refuge on the southwest coast. But as the four companions try to stay alive and avoid the infected, they begin to turn on each other; and from there, things can only get worse…

It’s a simple premise and not an original one at that. What makes it intriguing is the way it is executed. Filled with moral dilemmas and flawed, even unlikeable, characters, the story cycles through the implications of an evolutionary worldview with disturbing accuracy. To call Carriers grim would be the understatement of the year.

The suspense here is based – not in the violent or the grotesque, though there is some of both –  but in watching the characters react to an environment where fear of infection is ever present.

Man is innately self-centered, which means that, left to himself and confronted with “hard decisions”, he will almost always place his own needs before those of his neighbor. What moral obligation would compel him to do otherwise? The word “civilized” is rendered meaningless when civilization has ceased to exist. All that’s left is survival of the fittest.

May the biggest, baddest dog win.

Brian is the de facto leader of the group. He’s cynical, he’s quick-tempered, but he’s no slouch when it comes to enforcing the rules. One, avoid the infected at all costs. Two, disinfect anything they’ve touched in the last 24 hours. Three, the sick are already dead. They can’t be saved.

“You break the rules, you die,” Danny remarks. “You follow them, you live. Maybe.”

Theoretically, the rules may seem simple enough. Practically and consistently applied, however, they assume a more sinister aspect. It soon becomes clear just how far Brian and his companions are willing to go in order to survive.

Early in the film, they meet a man, Frank, and his infected 6-year-old daughter, Jodie. Brian reluctantly agrees to bargain: in exchange for Frank’s car, he agrees to take Frank and his daughter to a nearby high school, where a serum for the disease is rumored to have been developed. Upon arrival they discover that the serum is useless. Having “carried out” his part of the bargain, Brian coldly makes his next move: he packs up the vehicle and drives off – leaving Frank and Jodie to their fate.

Not long after this, Bobby discovers the dreaded rash on her own body. Infection. She tries to hide it from the others, but you can’t hide something like that forever. Brian catches on. Without hesitation, he pulls over on the side of the road. “Get out.” When she doesn’t move, he drags her roughly from the car and shoves her away. “Please don’t do this,” she weeps. But he does. He gets back in the car and drives on without a second look.

Oh, well. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Fuel is running low when Brian encounters two women heading in the opposite direction. This time, Danny tells his brother to stay put. “I’ll handle this.” He walks slowly toward the other vehicle and asks for help. “We just need some gas. Could you give us some gas? Please?” The women refuse.

Brian gets out and shoots them both on the spot.

The final act of savagery occurs mere days later, when Danny realizes that Brian is infected, too. It is at this point that the viewer expects some sort of reprieve. Surely he’ll spare his own brother, we think. He doesn’t. “You made the rules,” he tells Brian. And then he pulls the trigger.

Danny and Kate eventually make it to the coast. But there can be no “happily ever after” in this scenario. Survival, at any cost, is the only thing that matters. It hurts. The last words we hear are hopeless and full of regret: “I don’t know what will happen next. I don’t know how long I’ll live. But I know I will be alone.”

Fade to black.

“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life will keep it.” (Luke 17:33)

Totally Like Whatever, You Know? (Taylor Mali)

Sad Index

“So many hymns today (if “hymns” they deserve to be called) are full of maudlin sentimentality, instead of Divine adoration. They announce our love to God instead of His for us. They recount our experiences, instead of His mercies. They tell more of human attainments, instead of Christ’s Atonement. Sad index of our low state of spirituality!”

~ A.W. Pink, Gleanings in Exodus

HT Real Men Love Pink

On the Bookshelf IV

Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard
Revolves around the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Cuban fight for independence. I’d never read anything by Leonard up until now, but I think he may become a favorite. His talent for characterization, plotting, and dialogue is quite something.

Born Again by Charles Colson
In 1974, Colson pleaded guilty to Watergate-related offenses and spent seven months in prison. This memoir is the result: the story of a man who sought fulfillment in political power, only to find it in Jesus Christ. It’s good so far – honest, sincere, and thoughtful.

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Surprise: I finally picked up a book by Stephen King. I’m about a quarter of the way through it, and (minus a few content issues) I’m enjoying it. King is a much better writer than I expected, and I’m relishing the fact that the vampires are, y’know, bad. Take that, Stephanie Meyer.

All Things For Good by Thomas Watson
A magnificent examination of God’s providence in all aspects of life… written by one of those great Dead White Guys. Need I say more?

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky’s classic story of murder and guilt, and incidentally, my second encounter with Russian literature (Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illych was my first). I’m expecting great things, and I doubt I’ll be disappointed.

On Writing: A Memoir by Stephen King
Loving it so far. It’s an honest, autobiographical look at King’s formation and growth as a writer. Drawing from his own experiences, he has plenty of helpful advice to share; nuggets of wisdom like this one: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
I generally try have at least one science fiction book going all the time. This one is already a favorite. Brilliant plotting, complex characters, and lots to think about. I sincerely dread coming to the end of it.

Road To Perdition by Max Allan Collins
Currently being shipped from Amazon. I’ve never read a “graphic novel” before, but I figure this is as good place to start as any. The 2002 movie (starring Tom Hanks) was gut-wrenching and profound, so I’m hoping the original will have just as much, if not more, to offer.