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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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

"The first is the quack who cures you; the second is the highly qualified person who doesn't."

The truth is there are two kinds of charlatan: the man who is called a charlatan, and the man who really is one. The first is the quack who cures you; the second is the highly qualified person who doesn't. As I know nothing about the case of medical science, I will take the parallel case of the study I do slightly understand- the study of literature. There is one kind of writer who beats a drum, wears spangles, stands on his head until he has collected a crowd, and then tells them something quite sincere and generally quite true. There is the other man, who observes all the rules, exhibits all the dignities and decencies, and then says nothing at all in the most modest and gentlemanlike way. Mr. Bernard Shaw, for instance, is a case of the charlatan who has something to say- the cheapjack who has something to sell. He is the quack who can cure you. In the same way Doctor Emil Reich is the charlatan who has something to say- he is the quack who can cure you. I shall probably not be permitted to give examples of the other kind of charlatan, who has nothing to say; of the solemn and responsible quack who cannot cure you. There are plenty of them among Dons and Cabinet Ministers.

-February 15, 1908, Illustrated London News

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