“We are always ready to make a saint or prophet of the educated man…”

I'm currently behind on reviews, so don't be surprised if the recent reviews are a bit sparse.

We are always ready to make a saint or prophet of the educated man who goes into cottages to give a little kindly advice to the uneducated. But the medieval idea of a saint or prophet was something quite different. The mediaeval saint or prophet was an uneducated man who walked into grand houses to give a little kindly advice to the educated.

Heretics

by G.K. Chesterton · published 1905 · read 2021-06-03

★★★☆☆

Chesterton is an utter bastard, and enjoying himself while he's at it. As a result, I enjoyed myself, too: He's unrepentant in how conservative he is, and he likes using a handful of cheap tricks to make himself seem both very clever and very plausible. He's neither as clever nor as plausible as he thinks he is, but if I have to read an opposing viewpoint (and is he ever), I might as well enjoy myself. Though it would have been nice if he hadn't planned his chapters to lead from one witticism to the next – it's a bit obvious and tiring in the long run.