QUESTION: I would really appreciate any information you can offer with regard to my search for details on the following G.K. Chesterton quote which begins:
We all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out. The mystery of life is the plainest part of it.
The above was quoted in a book called The Riddle of Joy (G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis). Unfortunately, there is no hint given as to the poem’s origin or what it is called. I would truly be indebted to you for whatever information you could provide.
ANSWER: The quotation you seek is a prose passage from Chesterton’s little book, William Blake, for the “Popular Library of Art” (1910):
The mystic does not bring doubts or riddles: the doubts and riddles exist already. We all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out. The mystery of life is the plainest part of it. The clouds and curtains of darkness, the confounding vapours, these are the daily weather of this world.