27 pages 54 minutes read

G. K. Chesterton

The Fallacy of Success

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1908

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“On every bookstall, in every magazine, you may find works telling people how to succeed. They are books showing men how to succeed in everything; they are written by men who cannot even succeed in writing books.”


(Paragraph 1)

These observations establish the main topic and claim of the essay—that books about success are ridiculous. From the beginning of the essay, Chesterton adopts a humorous tone, noting the irony of people who in his estimation fail at their own vocation purporting to explain success.

Quotation Mark Icon

“To begin with, of course, there is no such thing as Success. Or, if you like to put it so, there is nothing that is not successful. That a thing is successful merely means that it is […].”


(Paragraph 1)

Chesterton presents a philosophical yet plain definition of success, strategically underselling his insight as common sense to nudge readers to accept it. His choice of diction—phrases like “of course” and “if you like to put it so”—sets a tone that makes readers feel like privileged confidants in an intimate, sensible conversation.

Quotation Mark Icon

“[P]assing over the bad logic and bad philosophy in the phrase, we may take it, as these writers do, in the ordinary sense of success in obtaining money or worldly position.”


(Paragraph 1)

Chesterton represents the authors of books on success as thoughtless and disingenuous, establishing the theme of The Complexity of Falsehood and the Simplicity of Truth. According to Chesterton, such writers cannot even accurately name what it is they are writing about, but lose their own focus behind abstractions. Here, Chesterton also establishes the definition of success he uses throughout the rest of the essay: material wealth or status.

Related Titles

By G. K. Chesterton

Study Guide

logo

Orthodoxy

G. K. Chesterton

Orthodoxy

G. K. Chesterton

Plot Summary

logo

The Ballad of the White Horse

G. K. Chesterton

The Ballad of the White Horse

G. K. Chesterton

Plot Summary

logo

The Ball and the Cross

G. K. Chesterton

The Ball and the Cross

G. K. Chesterton

Study Guide

logo

The Everlasting Man

G. K. Chesterton

The Everlasting Man

G. K. Chesterton