Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself.
 G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (1908). copy citation

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Author G. K. Chesterton
Source Orthodoxy
Topic
Date 1908
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/130/pg130-images.html

Context

“Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason. Huxley preached a humility content to learn from Nature. But the new sceptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn.” source