I stole the quote and tried to pass if off as my own work to a pawn broker I know, but he said he'd already been offered the same quote by another author and since he wasn't sure of the origin of the quote he suggested I put it back till its provenance could be established: wouldn't you know, with my luck I had chosen Chesterton's fence.
Edit to say - he was making a joke, this will help you understand
I don't see how that makes it flag-worthy.
It's a very nuanced form of humor.
Ugh, not used to humor on HN haha.
Not to be too meta, but it's slightly more common these days than it was a decade ago I think. Likely impossible to avoid with the sheer growth of the place. That said, that kind of very smart humour has always been around here
Humor isn't disavowed on HN. We're allowed to crack a joke here and there. :)