According to The American Chesterton Society http://www.chesterton.org/qmeister2/19.htm, this quotation is actually a paraphrase by John F. Kennedy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy of a passage from The Thing (1929) in which Chesterton made reference to a fence or gate erected across a road: "The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."
Misattributed
“Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”
“I don't want to know the reasons why,
Love keeps right on walking down the line.”
I Don't Want to Know
The Dance (Fleetwood Mac album) (1997), Rumours (1977)
“Why don't you put your ego down for a while, Justin. It must be getting heavy.”
Source: The MacGregors: Serena & Caine
“It's not a problem to put it up, It's a problem to take it down.”
Talking about the posters that appeared everywhere in Lebanon, of Hafez al-Assad, 1993. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/middleeast/15hariri.html?_r=0
“Take these chances
Place them in a box until a quieter time
Lights down, you up and die.”
Ants Marching
Remember Two Things (1993)
