Gilbert Keith Chesterton

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author

Every act of will is an act of self-limitation. To desire action is to desire limitation. In that sense, every act is an act of self-sacrifice. When you choose anything, you reject everything else

To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.

Variability is one of the virtues of a woman. It avoids the crude requirement of polygamy. So long as you have one good wife you are sure to have a spiritual harem

Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life

There are many definite methods, honest and dishonest, which make people rich; the only ''instinct'' I know of which does it is that instinct which theological Christianity crudely describes as ''the sin of avarice"