The Man Who Knew Too Much

by G.K. Chesterton

The ordinary image of him in March's mind was that of a pallid and bald-browed gentleman, who seemed to be prematurely old as well as prematurely bald. He was remembered as a man who expressed the opinions of a pessimist in the language of a lounger. Even now March could not be certain whether the change was merely a sort of masquerade of sunshine, or that effect of clear colors and clean-cut outlines that is always visible on the parade of a marine resort, relieved against the blue dado of the sea.

and I promise you this: that I will never try to keep you as somebody to be liked, at the price of your not being respected."

you said that, after all, it might do no harm if I could blow the whole tangle of this society to hell with dynamite." "Yes, and what of that?" asked Fisher. "Only that I'm going to blow it to hell with dynamite,"

The people of this country have a right to know how they're ruled—or, rather, ruined.

"If you think it's right, why don't you do what's right? It's awful to think of a man of your abilities simply blocking the road to reform."

I am enjoying an emotion that is entirely new to me; a happy sensation I never remember having had before." "What the devil do you mean?" "I am feeling proud of my family," said Horne Fisher.

Even the people, even the country people, are beginning to suspect that they are being ruined.

Believe me, you never know the best about men till you know the worst about them.

even in a Parliament, life can be lived with occasional efforts to live it well.

found himself one of a sort of small house party of the people he was proposing to denounce.

evergreens so somber that they might rather be called everblack.

The Prime Minister no longer looked like a boy, though he still looked a little like a baby.

man with a very sallow face and a very sullen manner, which contrasted with the gorgeous flower in his buttonhole and his festive trick of being always slightly overdressed.

There was perhaps more mystery in the question of how a man who lived for pleasure seemed to get so little pleasure out of it.

I was full of admiration at finding three honest men in politics. I ought not to be full of astonishment if I find only two."

pickled himself in vice like vinegar,

with sudden passion, and called to him with curses to come down.

the maniac who had done such a thing might climb the crest of the hill, in that feverish dancing fashion, and look down on the wreck he had made.

did you see the statue fall?" "No," said Archer, "I mean I saw the statue fallen."

I suppose the brute threw in the statue, by way of giving him a public funeral."

could make neither head nor tail of their presence or demeanor, which seemed to give a final touch of nonsense to the whole nightmare.

he cried, distractedly, "I don't understand!" as men do when they fear that they do understand.

Perhaps a hobby hardens with age; and my hobby has been silence.

The next instant I saw it was leaning an inch or two more than usual, and all the skies with their outstanding stars seemed to be leaning with

the thing I fled from was the sight of that appalling allegory.

There's no time to tell you all that happened; but I tell you it was the day of my life.

one man can barely crawl safely to the spot, and two would certainly be caught."

"God save England!" cried Fisher, with a tongue like the peal of a trumpet. "And now it is for God to save."

the man who knew too much knew what is worth knowing.