IF we desire European civilization to be a raid and a rescue, we shall insist rather that souls are in real peril than that their peril is ultimately unreal. And if we wish to exalt the outcast and the crucified, we shall rather wish to think that a veritable God was crucified, rather than a mere sage or hero. Above all, if we wish to protect the poor we shall be in favour of fixed rules and clear dogmas. The rules of a club are occasionally in favour of the poor member. The drift of a club is always in favour of the rich one.

"Are you a devil?" "I am a man," answered Father Brown gravely; "and therefore have all devils in my heart."

It is the mark of our whole modern history that the masses are kept quiet with a fight. They are kept quiet by the fight because it is a sham-fight; thus most of us know by this time that the Party System has been popular only in the sense that a football match is popular.

When the chord of monotony is stretched to its tightest, it breaks with the sound of a song.

The rolling stone rolls echoing from rock to rock; but the rolling stone is dead. The moss is silent because the moss is alive.

One must somehow find a way of loving the world without trusting it; somehow one must love the world without being worldly.

The greenhorn is the ultimate victor in everything; it is he that gets the most out of life.