The Fallacy of Success

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, or G. K. Chesterton, was an English writer, thinker, critic of art and literature, journalist, and Christian apologist. He was born in May 1874 in London and died in June 1936 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. As a child, he attended St. Paul’s School in London, and afterward he went to art school instead of college. In 1900, he accepted an invitation to write some articles on art criticism, launching a career spanning over 30 years. He wrote more than 100 books, contributed to twice as many, and dabbled in poems, plays, novels, and short stories, collectively even greater in number. Chesterton is best known for his series of fictional mystery stories involving the amateur detective Father Brown, a Catholic priest who relies on his unassuming demeanor and his understanding of human nature—refined by his experience as a spiritual advisor and confidant—to catch criminals unawares and discern their true motives. Chesterton was a member and president of the Detection Club, a society of detective fiction authors. In his own time, Chesterton was primarily popular because of his journalistic exploits. He wrote thousands of essays—including “The Fallacy of Success”—on disparate topics for the Illustrated London News, the Daily News, and even his own newspaper, G.