The materialist theory of history, that all politics and ethics are the expression of economics, is a very simple fallacy indeed. It consists simply of confusing the necessary conditions of life with the normal preoccupations of life, that are quite a different thing. It is like saying that because a man can only walk about on two legs, therefore he never walks about except to buy shoes and stockings.

The Quotable Chesterton: A Topical Compilation of the Wit, Wisdom and Satire of G.K. Chesterton (ed. 1986)