Friday, September 07, 2012

What's Wrong with the WorldWhat's Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rather than a collection of various essays, What's Wrong with the World is an attempt to answer that question. It introduces GKCs stand-ins for Big Government and Big Business, Hudge and Gudge. As with many of his books, it's important to remember that is was written in the early to mid 1900s in a British culture, therefore some things will sound a little strange to contemporary American ears. But this a brilliant and challenging look at where we got off track on education, government and family.

“The woman does not work because the man tells her to work and she obeys. On the contrary, the woman works because she has told the man to work and he hasn’t obeyed.”
― G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World

And two of Chesterton's best known quotes:

"If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
Part Four: Education, or The Mistake About The Child - Ch. 14 : Folly and Female Education

"The great ideals of the past failed not by being outlived (which must mean over-lived), but by not being lived enough. Mankind has not passed through the Middle Ages. Rather mankind has retreated from the Middle Ages in reaction and rout. The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."
Part One: The Homelessness Of Man, Ch. 5 : The Unfinished Temple