{"id":5370,"date":"2012-04-30T00:12:30","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T04:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/?page_id=5370"},"modified":"2020-06-15T07:24:55","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T12:24:55","slug":"taking-a-fence-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/taking-a-fence-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking a Fence Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>I remember reading somewhere that John F. Kennedy quoted Chesterton as saying something about not taking a fence down until you know the reason why it was put it up. I think the idea was if someone says they don&#8217;t understand why something is the way it is and wants to destroy or change it, don&#8217;t let them. Any help?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>ANSWER:\u00a0<\/strong>Bartlett\u2019s <em>Familiar Quotations<\/em> says that the quotation, &#8220;Don\u2019t ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up,&#8221; was ascribed to Chesterton by John F. Kennedy in a 1945 notebook. (Bartlett is not a very good source for Chesterton quotations, by the way: a pitifully small selection, and citations like this one, that reflect zero research. But then, that\u2019s why we\u2019re here!)<\/p>\n<p>The quotation you\u2019re looking for is from Chesterton&#8217;s 1929 book, <em>The Thing<\/em>, in the chapter entitled, &#8220;The Drift from Domesticity&#8221;:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, &#8220;I don&#8217;t see the use of this; let us clear it away.&#8221; To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: &#8220;If you don&#8217;t see the use of it, I certainly won&#8217;t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QUESTION:\u00a0I remember reading somewhere that John F. Kennedy quoted Chesterton as saying something about not taking a fence down until you know the reason why it was put it up. I think the idea was if someone says they don&#8217;t understand why something is the way it is and wants to destroy or change it, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"right-sidebar","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[977],"class_list":["post-5370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-frequently-asked-questions","tag-faq"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Taking a Fence Down<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is it true John F. 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