On the subject of Browning's work innumerable things have been said and remain to be said; of his life, considered as a narrative of facts, there is little or nothing to say. It was a lucid and public and yet quiet life, which culminated in one great dramatic test of character, and then fell back again into this union of quietude and publicity. And yet, in spite of this, it is a great deal more difficult to speak finally about his life than about his work. His work has the mystery which belongs to the complex; his life the much greater mystery which belongs to the simple. He was clever enough...

Unless we are all mad, there is at the back of the most bewildering business a story: and if we are all mad, there is no such thing as madness. If I set a house on fire, it is quite true that I may illuminate many other people's weaknesses as well as my own. It may be that the master of the house was burned because he was drunk: it may be that the mistress of the house was burned because she was stingy, and perished arguing about the expense of a fire-escape. It is, nevertheless, broadly true that they both were burned because I set fire to their house. That is the story of the thing. The...

The flying ship of Professor Lucifer sang through the skies like a silver arrow; the bleak white steel of it, gleaming in the bleak blue emptiness of the evening. That it was far above the earth was no expression for it; to the two men in it, it seemed to be far above the stars. The professor had himself invented the flying machine, and had also invented nearly everything in it. Every sort of tool or apparatus had, in consequence, to the full, that fantastic and distorted look which belongs to the miracles of science. For the world of science and evolution is far more nameless and elusive and...

"The Appetite of Tyranny: Including Letters to an Old Garibaldian by G. K. Chesterton: "
Publisher: Kindle E-Book Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-1-78379-136-1
In his book on William Blake, Chesterton says, "We all wake up on a battlefield." In 1915, when he emerged from his coma-like state after his physical collapse several months earlier, Chesterton, in effect, did wake up on a battlefield. England was in the midst of the Great War with Germany. Though the English army had no use for Chesterton as a soldier, his pen was immediately enlisted to help the war effort. His first books after...

"The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. Chesterton: "
Publisher: Kindle E-Book Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-1-78379-088-3
The Club of Queer Trades is a collection of stories by G. K. Chesterton. Each story in the collection is centered on a person who is making his living by some novel and extraordinary means (a "queer trade"). To gain admittance one must have invented a unique means of earning a living and the subsequent trade being the main source of income.
The framing narrative by "Cherub" Swinburne describes his quest for The Club of Queer Trades with his friend Basil Grant, a...

"The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton: "
Publisher: Kindle E-Book Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-1-78379-115-6
The Ballad of the White Horse is a poem by G. K. Chesterton about the idealized exploits of the Saxon King Alfred the Great. Written in ballad form, the work is usually considered one of the last great traditional epic poems ever written in the English language. The poem narrates how Alfred was able to defeat the invading Danes at the Battle of Ethandun under the auspices of God working through the agency of the Virgin Mary. In addition to being a narration of...

"The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton: "
Publisher: Kindle E-Book Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-1-78379-082-1
It is very difficult to classify The Man Who Was Thursday. It is possible to say that it is a gripping adventure story of murderous criminals and brilliant policemen; but it was to be expected that the author of the Father Brown stories should tell a detective story like no-one else. On this level, therefore, The Man Who Was Thursday succeeds superbly; if nothing else, it is a magnificent tour-de-force of suspense-writing.
However, the reader will soon...

"Tremendous Trifles by G. K. Chesterton: "
Publisher: Kindle E-Book Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-1-78379-145-3
This collection shows off Chesterton's talent as a master of short-form prose. These "fleeting sketches," which originally appeared the London newspaper Daily News, describe the most ordinary of events and observations, but through Chesterton's eye, they take on profound new meaning. He explores: 'the secret of a train', 'an extraordinary cabman', 'the advantages of having one leg', 'on lying in bed', 'what he found in his pocket', 'an orthodox barber', 'some policemen and a...

"What's Wrong With the World by G. K. Chesterton: "
Publisher: Kindle E-Book Edition:
ISBN-13: 978-1-78379-076-0
Some people do not like the word "dogma." Fortunately they are free, and there is an alternative for them. There are two things, and two things only, for the human mind, a dogma and a prejudice. The Middle Ages were a rational epoch, an age of doctrine. Our age is, at its best, a poetical epoch, an age of prejudice. A doctrine is a definite point; a prejudice is a direction. That an ox may be eaten, while a man should not be eaten, is a doctrine. That as little as...