{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/first-of-all",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/first-of-all.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/first-of-all.md",
  "id": "f6370aa0-48ab-42a2-8fc9-1f99ebdf413f",
  "slug": "first-of-all",
  "text": "\"First of all, what is it really all about? What is it you object to? You want to abolish Government?\"\n\n\"To abolish God!\" said Gregory, opening the eyes of a fanatic. \"We do not only want to upset a few despotisms and police regulations; that sort of anarchism does exist, but it is a mere branch of the Nonconformists. We dig deeper and we blow you higher. We wish to deny all those arbitrary distinctions of vice and virtue, honour and treachery, upon which mere rebels base themselves. The silly sentimentalists of the French Revolution talked of the Rights of Man! We hate Rights as we hate Wrongs. We have abolished Right and Wrong.\"\n\n\"And Right and Left,\" said Syme with a simple eagerness, \"I hope you will abolish them too. They are much more troublesome to me.\"",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "G. Chesterton",
    "slug": "g-chesterton",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "The Man Who Was Thursday",
    "slug": "the-man-who-was-thursday",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": null,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "morality",
      "slug": "morality",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality"
    },
    {
      "name": "fanaticism",
      "slug": "fanaticism",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism"
    },
    {
      "name": "anarchism",
      "slug": "anarchism",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anarchism"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._II_:_The_Secret_of_Gabriel_Syme",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "e9810ad7-0604-4aa6-91e2-138d9f86c43f",
      "slug": "the-rare-strange",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/the-rare-strange",
      "text": "\"The rare, strange thing is to hit the mark; the gross, obvious thing is to miss it. We feel it is epical when man with one wild arrow strikes a distant bird. Is it not also epical when man with one wild engine strikes a distant station? Chaos is dull; because in chaos the train might indeed go anywhere, to Baker Street, or to Bagdad. But man is a magician, and his whole magic is in this, that he does say Victoria, and lo! it is Victoria.\"",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "chaos",
          "slug": "chaos",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._I_:_The_Two_Poets_of_Saffron_Park",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54"
    },
    {
      "id": "e45f006f-e63e-4ec1-9c7d-48de516eaa28",
      "slug": "vulgar-people-are",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/vulgar-people-are",
      "text": "Vulgar people are never mad. I'm vulgar myself, and I know. I am now going on shore to stand a drink to everybody here.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        },
        {
          "name": "madness",
          "slug": "madness",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._XII_:_The_Earth_in_Anarchy",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54"
    },
    {
      "id": "d420224c-4165-461b-ab8c-f019b8ba58a8",
      "slug": "shall-i-tell",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/shall-i-tell",
      "text": "Shall I tell you the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only known the back of the world. We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal. That is not a tree, but the back of a tree. That is not a cloud, but the back of a cloud. Cannot you see that everything is stooping and hiding a face? If we could only get round in front —",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "secrets",
          "slug": "secrets",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Was_Thursday#Ch._XIV_:_The_Six_Philosophers",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:54"
    }
  ]
}