"The most important sort of knowledge is to know which things are worth knowing."
G.K. Chesterton in Sign April 1932, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 17 #2-3 (Nov.-Dec. .2013)
“Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.”
D.P. Diffiné, “Wal-Mart Open for Business: A 30th Anniversary Salute to Wal-Mart” (1992)
“At that moment, and only for that moment, everything fitted into place. Every tendency in himself, in societies; the past and the future; all he had ever seen or thought or felt or believed, sorted itself out. It was a vision of Good and Evil. Heaven and Hell. Life and death. There were two alternatives; and he had to choose. He chose.”
Malcolm Muggeridge "Winter in Moscow" (1934), in Ian Hunter, ed., The Very Best of Malcolm Muggeridge.
“12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.”
One in a list of “Paraprosdokians : Winston Churchill loved them. They are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected, and are frequently humorous” emailed by William Adamson January 25, 2014
"A specialist is someone who does everything else worse."
"U.S. violinist Ruggiero Ricci" quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe & Mail Oct. 13, 2006.
"The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose; and the text of Scripture which he now most commonly quotes is, 'The kingdom of heaven is within you.'"
G.K. Chesterton, “The Spirit of America,” in What I Saw in America, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 7 #8 (July-August 2004)
"The contemplative life is often miserable. You should do more, think less and not watch yourself living."
Nicholas-Sebastien Chamfort, quoted as "Thought du jour" in Globe & Mail Oct. 22, 2002
"After the first silence the small man said to the other: 'Where does a wise man hide a pebble?' And the tall man answered in a low voice: 'On the beach.' The small man nodded, and after a short silence said: 'Where does a wise man hide a leaf?' And the other answered: 'In the forest.'"
G.K. Chesterton, Favorite Father Brown Stories