"The Man Who Knew Too Much" by G. K. Chesterton

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• "he was still young enough to remember his politics and not merely try to forget them"
• "Harold March was the sort of man who knows everything about politics, and nothing about politicians. He also knew a great deal about art, letters, philosophy, and general culture; about almost everything, indeed, except the world he was living in."
• ". . . the premonitions proper to a man who meets the strangest friendship of his life"
• "The man was apparently fishing; or at least was fixed in a fisherman's attitude with more than a fisherman's immobility. March was able to examine the man almost as if he had been a statue for some minutes before the statue spoke."
• "It was one of those cases of a strange face so unmistakable as to feel familiar. We feel, somehow, that we ought to recognize it, even though we do not."
• "I know too much," he said. "That's what's the matter with me. That's what's the matter with all of us, and the whole show; we know too much."

"All Things Considered" by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

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• "I cannot understand the people who take literature seriously; but I can love them, and I do. Out of my love I warn them to keep clear of this book."
• "It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard to be frivolous."
• "It is more dignified to sit still than to dance the Barn Dance."
• "That is why so many tired, elderly, and wealthy men go in for politics. They are responsible, because they have not the strength of mind left to be irresponsible."
• "One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time."
• "In these essays (as I read them over) I feel frightfully annoyed with myself for not getting to the point more quickly; but I had not enough leisure to be quick."