I can’t post extensively here, but I can still work in my weekly quote in the He Said/She Said block below right. This week, it’s back to G.K. Chesterton, with one of a few gems I found in his 1908 novel The Man Who Was Thursday. As a novel, there are unlikelihoods and glitches in the story-telling, though it should be said that he subtitles it A Nightmare.

It’s one of those novels that expects the reader to accept that its characters could have the most astonishingly eloquent, philosophical and lengthy conversations. Once you allow for that, the pleasure of Chesterton’s prose is fine. It’s quite a remarkable book, underlaid with serious intent and ideas and yet told in a witty, sardonic and fantastical way. (With one young man of my dear acquaintance quite fascinated by the tenets of Anarchism, the serious and mocking shots that Mr. Chesterton lobs its way were especially piquant.) In the midst of all the adventure and bon mots, GKC throws in the occasional aphorism like this stealth missile on the glories of old-fashioned monogamy. He’s a quote machine.