The Story of the Family: G. K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves Its Own Citizens by G.K. Chesterton

The Story of the Family: G. K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves Its Own Citizens Reviews

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  Becky Pliego

  Excellent. I agree with the author who recommended this book saying that Dale Ahlquist has done a brilliant job in assembling this collection of Chesterton’s essays and quotes. He also wrote, “The Woke should fear this book. Everyone else should buy it.” R.R.
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  Jessica Whitmer

  Crazy how someone like G.K. Chesterton could write things so prophetic to our current age. A wonderful book honoring and celebrating the family. His writing is lyrical and entrancing. It was such a delight to pick this book up, and I had to write down a few of my favorite quotes...
  
  "The man who makes a vow makes an appointment with himself at some distant time or place. The danger of it is that he himself should not keep the appointment. And in modern times this terror of one's self, of the weakness and mutability of one's self, has perilously increased, and is the real bases of the objection to vows of any kind."
  
  "God Himself will not help us to ignore evil, but only to defy and to defeat it."
  
  "Men live... rejoicing from age to age in something fresher than progress - in the fact that with every baby a new sun and a new moon are made."
  
  "It is difficult to defend the obvious. We don't even know where to begin. It is also easy to forget the obvious. Breathing only becomes an issue when we are out of breath. The family is a perfect example of something so obvious that it is difficult to defend - so obvious that it is easy to ignore. But decay begins to set in, say Chesterton, when we forget the obvious thing... We are arguing about the frayed edges of an essential garment, and we have forgotten the purpose of that garment. In a 1920 book called The Superstition of Divorce, Chesterton gets down to basics and tells 'The Story of the Family.' His first three points: The family is the most ancient human institutions. It has an authority. It is universal. It is an institution that precedes the state. It differs from the State, and from any other institution, in that 'it begins with spontaneous attraction.' It is not coercive. 'There is nothing in any social relations in any way parallel to the mutual attraction of the sexes. By missing this simple point, the modern world has fallen into a hundred follies.' " ~Dale Ahlquist
  
  "Chesterton says that the reformers do not understand the basis of the thing they are trying to rebuild. You cannot break apart the basic unit of civilization, which is the family. You cannot replace the authority of parents. You cannot replace the bond between a husband and wife. You can only waste your time trying. And disintegration of society with the atomization of special interests, the elevation of state education, and legalization of divorce and contraception and abortion and same-sex marriage are all of them wastes of time. The family will survive them all. The family, which came into existence without the government and has continued to exist without the support of the government, will withstand any unnatural laws made by the government. But in the meantime everyone suffers. Everyone. Because everyone is either a father or a mother or a child." ~Dale Ahlquist
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  Antonio

  A good summary of the writings of Chesterton on the family. Influenced my philosophy and prioritization of my family, hence I would recommend to others as a worthwhile book to consider reading. The family is the most important unit of society!
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  Jeff Beyer

  This was a nice compilation of so much of what Chesterton had to say about the family. Read this in preparation for my Chesterton society meeting. Really looking forward to discussing it with my friends!
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  Kyli Blanks

  By far the best book I have read this year, it is absolutely uncanny how reactive Chesterton’s words are for us today.