A blog dedicated to providing quotes by and posts relating to one of the most influential (and quotable!) authors of the twentieth century, G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936). If you do not know much about GKC, I suggest visiting the webpage of the American Chesterton Society as well as this wonderful Chesterton Facebook Page by a fellow Chestertonian

I also have created a list detailing examples of the influence of Chesterton if you are interested, that I work on from time to time.

(Moreover, for a list of short GKC quotes, I have created one here, citing the sources)

"...Stevenson had found that the secret of life lies in laughter and humility."

-Heretics (1905)
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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Chesterton quotes in Dean Koontz novel "Relentless"

In Dean Koontz novel Relentless (2009), I came across five instances where he quotes Chesterton, so I just wanted to quote them in this post. (I don't know if there are any more or not in this particular novel). The page numbers will be for the paperback edition which I have.

First, the prescript to the novel contains three quotes, one from Dickens, but the other two are from Chesterton:

The issue is very clear. It is between light and darkness, and everyone must choose his side.

-G.K. Chesterton

All men are tragic...All men are comic...Every man is important if he loses his life; and every man is funny if he loses his hat.

-G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens

Then within the story itself, the following mentions of Chesterton occur:

First, on page 21:

"Let it go. Remember what Gilbert said."

She was an admirer of the late G.K. Chesterton, the English writer, and she made me an admirer of his, as well.

" 'Nothing,' she quoted, " 'can do a man harm unless he fears it' There's no reason to fear a weasel like Sherman Waxx.

Then on page 96:

She kissed me on the nose and quoted Chesterton: " A man and a woman cannot live together without having against each other a kind of everlasting joke. Each has discovered that the other is not only a fool, but a great fool' "

Finally, pages 128-129:

In 1933, G.K. Chesterton wrote, "The disintegration of rational society started in the drift from hearth and family; the solution must be a drift back."

I had a disturbing feeling that getting back to where we had been would require more than drifting.We would need to swim with all the strength and perseverance we possessed, and the journey was likely to be upstream all the way.

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