Commonplacing: The Immortal G.K. Chesterton

For those of you who know me well, you have undoubtedly heard me talk about how much I love the second greatest British public intellectual of the previous century: Mr. Gilbert Keith Chesterton. I simply love the way he saw the world. To wit, from Orthodoxy, the second best of his books:

"It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore."

I love almost everything about this quote and have nothing to add to it, except the minor reflection that, apart from being beautiful and clever, it more closely approximates my vision of the truth of this world than any other reflection on the majesty of nature.