Inspirational Quotes by G.K. Chesterton

“Oh, captive, bound, and double-chained!” cried the phantom, “who does not understand the toll of a lifetime of incessant labor by man, an immortal creature! For this flesh must pass into eternity before the good of which it is capable can be understood. How tragic not to know that a Christian spirit working kindly in its little realm of influence, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for the vast opportunities it has to be useful. Not to know that no regret can ever make amends for one missed life’s opportunity! Yet such was I! Oh, such was I!”

“Probably every new and eagerly expected garment ever put on since clothes came in, fell a trifle short of the wearer's expectation.”

“Jarndyce mot Jarndyce maler videre. Dette fugleskremselet av en rettssak er med tiden blitt så innfløkt at det ikke er en levende sjel som vet hva den går ut på.”

“Having tasted the honeycomb, he threw down his axe, and looking on the tree as sacred, took great care of it.”

“You must come with me, loving me, to death; or else hate me and still come with me, and hating me through death and after. There is no such word as indifference in my apathetic nature.”

“At another time, or in another case, it might have excited my ridicule. But into what quackeries will not people rush for a last chance, where all accustomed means have failed, and the life of a beloved object is at stake?”

“After a pause, one half of the children cried in chorus, ‘Yes, sir!’  Upon which the other half, seeing in the gentleman’s face that Yes was wrong, cried out in chorus, ‘No, sir!’—as the custom is, in these examinations.   ‘Of”

“Mr Pumblechook’s premises in the High-street of the market town, were of a peppercorny and farinaceous character, as the premises of a corn-chandler and seedsman should”

“As to forming any plan for the future, I could as soon have formed an elephant.”

“catholicity”

“Remember: life is a breath; soon I will vanish from your sight. The eye that looks will not see me; you may search, but I will be gone. Like a cloud fading in the sky, man dissolves into death. He leaves the whole world behind him and never comes home again.”

“Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour.”

“We must leave the discovery of this mystery, like all others, to time, and accident, and Heaven's pleasure.”

“That when the Dodger, and his accomplished friend Master Bates, joined in the hue-and-cry which was raised at Oliver's heels, in consequence of their executing an illegal conveyance of Mr. Brownlow's personal property, as has been already described, they were actuated by a very laudable and becoming regard for themselves; and forasmuch as the freedom of the subject and the liberty of the individual are among the first and proudest boasts of a true-hearted Englishman, so, I need hardly beg the reader to observe, that this action should tend to exalt them in the opinion of all public and patriotic men, in almost as great a degree as this strong proof of their anxiety for their own preservation and safety goes to corroborate and confirm the little code of laws which certain profound and sound-judging philosophers have laid down as the main-springs of all Nature's deeds and actions: the said philosophers very wisely reducing the good lady's proceedings to matters of maxim and theory: and, by a very neat and pretty compliment to her exalted wisdom and understanding, putting entirely out of sight any considerations of heart, or generous impulse and feeling.”

“We had not got halfway to the door before she had overtaken us and was holding his arm. She had turned in a moment from steel to velvet. "Come and sit down, gentlemen. Let us talk this matter over. I feel that I may be frank with you, Mr. Holmes. You have the feelings of a gentleman. How quick a woman's instinct is to find it out. I will treat you as a friend." "I cannot promise to reciprocate, madame. I am not the law, but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go. I am ready to listen, and then I will tell you how I will act." "No doubt it was foolish of me to threaten a brave man like yourself.”

“Junto dela nunca tive nem uma hora de felicidade, mas, mesmo assim, meu espírito, durante as vinte e quatro horas do dia, ainda desejava a felicidade de tê-la junto de mim até a morte.”

“That sprung up between us.  You are not truly happy”

“Yes. I'm going to take a holiday. More than that; I'm going to take a walk. More than that; I'm going to ask you to take a walk with me.”

“There has been a time since when I have wondered whether, if the life before her could have been revealed to me at a glance, and so revealed as that a child could fully comprehend it, and if her preservation could have depended on a motion of my hand, I ought to have held it up to save her. There has been a time since—I do not say it lasted long, but it has been—when I have asked myself the question, would it have been better for Little Em'ly to have had the waters close above her head that morning in my sight; and when I have answered Yes, it would have been.”

“theory”