The Roman Catholic Church has the unique power of keeping remote control over human souls which have once been part of her. G.K. Chesterton has compared this to the fisherman's line, which allows the fish the illusion of free play in the water and yet has him by the hook; in his own time the fisherman by a 'twitch upon the thread' draws the fish to land.

Don't give your opinions about Art and the Purpose of Life. They are of little interest and, anyway, you can't express them. Don't analyze yourself. Give the relevant facts and let your readers make their own judgments. Stick to your story. It is not the most important subject in history but it is one about which you are uniquely qualified to speak.

Every Englishman abroad, until it is proved to the contrary, likes to consider himself a traveller and not a tourist.

I think it's one of the kindest things you can do to the very wicked, to give them time to repent.

If every museum in the New World were emptied, if every famous building in the Old World were destroyed and only Venice saved, there would be enough there to fill a full lifetime with delight. Venice, with all its complexity and variety, is in itself the greatest surviving work of art in the world.

For in that city [New York] there is neurosis in the air which the inhabitants mistake for energy.

I do not believe the expenditure of $2.50 for a book entitles the purchaser to the personal friendship of the author.