Self-denial is the test and definition of self-government.

There is a corollary to the conception of being too proud to fight. It is that the humble have to do most of the fighting.

I agree with the realistic Irishman who said he preferred to prophesy after the event.

Madness does not come by breaking out, but by giving in; by settling down in some dirty, little, self-repeating circle of ideas; by being tamed.

There is no logical connection between flying and laying eggs.

Romance is the deepest thing in life. It is deeper than reality.

My brother, Cecil Edward Chesterton, was born when I was about five years old; and, after a brief pause, began to argue. He continued to argue to the end. I am glad to think that through all those years we never stopped arguing; and we never once quarreled. Perhaps the principal objection to a quarrel is that it interrupts an argument.