Definitions by Chesterton

Children: human beings who are allowed to do what everyone else really desires to do, as for instance, to fly kites, or when seriously wronged to emit prolonged screams for several minutes.

Family: the thing on which all civilization is built; the idea that a man and a woman should live largely for the next generation and that they should, to some extent, defer their personal amusements, such as divorce and dissipation, for the benefit of the next generation.

Gratitude: happiness doubled by wonder.

These and so many more can be found in Dale Ahlquist's new book The Universe According to G.K. Chesterton: A dictionary of the Mad, Mundane and Metaphysical.

You can get the book free with a membership to the American Chesterton Society if you join by the end of the month (Sept 2011).