Orthodoxy (1908)

Their wordsImagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do.

Their wordsThe madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.

Their wordsMysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic.

Their wordsBut what we suffer from to-day is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be.

Their wordsThere is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped. That is the ultimate evil against which all religious authority was aimed.

Their wordsIn short, the democratic faith is this: that the most terribly important things must be left to ordinary men themselves—the mating of the sexes, the rearing of the young, the laws of the state. This is democracy; and in this I have always believed.

Their wordsTradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors.

Their wordsFor grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.

Their wordsMy acceptance of the universe is not optimism, it is more like patriotism. It is a matter of primary loyalty.

Their wordsThe point is not that this world is too sad to love or too glad not to love; the point is that when you do love a thing, its gladness is a reason for loving it, and its sadness a reason for loving it more.

Their wordsPeople first paid honour to a spot and afterwards gained glory for it. Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.

Their wordsOf all conceivable forms of enlightenment the worst is what these people call the Inner Light. Of all horrible religions the most horrible is the worship of the god within.

Their wordsCourage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.

Their wordsThere never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It was sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad.

Their wordsProgress should mean that we are always changing the world to suit the vision. Progress does mean (just now) that we are always changing the vision.

Their wordsIf you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post.

Their wordsBut as to what is the way out, I do not think that there are two institutions in the universe which contradict each other so flatly as Buddhism and Christianity.

Their wordsWe come back to the same tireless note touching the nature of Christianity; all modern philosophies are chains which connect and fetter; Christianity is a sword which separates and sets free.

Their wordsThe believers in miracles accept them (rightly or wrongly) because they have evidence for them. The disbelievers in miracles deny them (rightly or wrongly) because they have a doctrine against them.

Their wordsJoy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian.