Inspirational Quotes by G.K. Chesterton

“Tears are not the only proofs of distress, nor the best ones.”

“SHERLOCK HOLMES—his limits.   1. Knowledge of Literature.—Nil.   2.     Philosophy.—Nil.   3.     Astronomy.—Nil.   4.     Politics.—Feeble.   5.     Botany.—Variable.  Well up in belladonna,               opium, and poisons generally.               Knows nothing of practical gardening.   6.     Geology.—Practical, but limited.               Tells at a glance different soils               from each other.  After walks has               shown me splashes upon his trousers,               and told me by their color and               consistence in what part of London               he had received them.   7.     Chemistry.—Profound.   8.     Anatomy.—Accurate, but unsystematic.   9.     Sensational Literature.—Immense.  He appears               to know every detail of every horror               perpetrated in the century.   10. Plays the violin well.   11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.   12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.”

“Yes, I have a pair of eyes,' replied Sam, 'and that's just it. If they wos a pair o' patent double million magnifyin' gas microscopes of hextra power, p'raps I might be able to see through a flight o' stairs and a deal door; but bein' only eyes, you see, my wision 's limited.”

“Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood." "That's rather a broad idea," I remarked. "One's ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature,”

“Where the dexterity of the lawyers, eager to discover a flaw?”

“My dear Watson," said he, "I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers. When I say, therefore, that Mycroft has better powers of observation than I, you may take it that I am speaking the exact and literal truth.”

“and though the merriment was rather boisterous, still it came from the heart and not from the lips; and this is the right sort of merriment, after all.”

“I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason for everything that I do. You may possibly remember that you chaffed me a little, some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your side of the hedge, so you must not grudge me a little pomp and ceremony now. Might I ask you, Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge of the straw?”

“I know it is my duty, Sir,’ replied Job, with great emotion. ‘We should all try to discharge our duty, Sir, and I humbly endeavour to discharge mine, Sir; but it is a hard trial to betray a master, Sir, whose clothes you wear, and whose bread you eat, even though he is a scoundrel, Sir.”

“faces. "Perhaps I had best”

“I am very sorry to betray my master, Sir,’ said Job Trotter, applying to his eyes a pink check pocket handkerchief of about three inches square. ‘The feeling does you a great deal of honour,’ replied Mr Pickwick; ‘but it is your duty, nevertheless.’ ‘I know it is my duty, Sir,’ replied Job, with great emotion. ‘We should all try to discharge our duty, Sir, and I humbly endeavour to discharge mine, Sir; but it is a hard trial to betray a master, Sir, whose clothes you wear, and whose bread you eat, even though he is a scoundrel, Sir.”

“obtuse, Holmes,”

“Lawyers hold that there are two kinds of particularly bad witnesses, a reluctant witness, and a too-willing witness; it was Mr Winkle’s fate to figure in both characters.”

“The main thing with people of that sort," said Holmes, as we sat in the sheets of the wherry, "is never to let them think that their information can be of the slightest importance to you. If you do, they will instantly shut up like an oyster. If you listen to them under protest, as it were, you are very likely to get what you want.”

“And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment.”

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days, that can recal to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!”

“there is nothing more unaesthetic than a policeman”

“These sequestered nooks are the public offices of the legal profession, where writs are issued, judgments signed, declarations filed, and numerous other ingenious little machines put in motion for the torture and torment of His Majesty’s liege subjects, and the comfort and emolument of the practitioners of the law.”

“It occurred to me several times that we should have got on better, if we had not been quite so genteel. We were so exceedingly genteel, that our scope was very limited.”

“In questi momenti, un essere mortale si rende vagamente conto dei poteri formidabili che avrebbe la propria mente se, libera dalla prigionia del corpo, potesse lasciarsi indietro i limiti del tempo e dello spazio.”