“One of two Victoria crosses awarded during the battle of Kohima went to Lance Corporal John Harmon of the Royal West Kents for his brave exploits. Sniper Harman – who spent much of his boyhood on the remote Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel owned by his millionaire father Martin – sprang into action when he spotted a Japanese light machine gun team taking over a nearby trench. Without hesitation he sprinted some 35 yards towards the trench, flung a grenade which killed the two Japanese inside and returned to his line bearing a captured gun. Two days later on 9 April in cold, wet weather he repeated this astonishing performance, only this time there were five men in the trench armed with automatic weapons and he himself used a fixed bayonet rather than a grenade. ‘When all the enemies were dead he walked back to his lines ignoring his comrades’ pleas to run for cover. He was killed by a burst of fire and died, saying “I've got to go. It was worth it – I got the lot.”’ His actions kept the hill in British hands for the time being at least.”

Karen Farrington Victory in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to the Fall of Okinawa [she does not footnote this or any quotation].

“Civil wars happen when the victimized are armed. Genocide happens when they are not.”

A.E. Samaan according to a graphic emailed by a friend December 21, 2025 [without further attribution].

“I may have my faults but being wrong isn’t one of them.”

Poster (with picture of a rhinoceros) on wall of a guy working on Dead Sea Scrolls, evidently the project director who went mad and antisemitic, on PBS October 15, 1991 19:50-55

“one person with their mind made up can shove a lot of folks aroun!”

Tom Joad in John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath

“You would make a good lawyer.”

A fortune in a fortune cookie I received in 1999; I believe it was meant as a compliment.

“Returning to the problem he identified in The Abolition of Man and De Descriptione Temporum, in the great change from one culture to another, Lewis [in The Discarded Image] suggested that something has been lost. Even as Plato and Aristotle once governed the direction of science, new philosophes of science govern the direction and application of science until ‘now, in some extreme forms of Behaviorism, the subject himself is discounted as merely subjective; we only think that we think. Having eaten up everything else, he eats himself up too. And where we “go from that” is a dark question.’”

Harry Lee Poe The Completion of C.S. Lewis

“Academics mock introductory ‘History 200’ courses that take students ‘from Plato to NATO’ over the course of an academic year, but the alternative to students you know about Plato and NATO is not students who read Gibbon or von Ranke, and Plato and NATO are things everyone should know about, so there is a case for covering the basics.”

Mark F. Proudman in Dorchester Review #34 (Vol. 15, #4) Winter 2025

“Over the years, I’ve had dealings with many universities around the world. I’ve funded research centres, chairs and programs related to entrepreneurship, business management, engineering and technological innovation. I’ve also served on a number of university boards and given guest lectures on campuses in Canada, the United States and Europe. But until recently, it never occurred to me to consider the overriding purpose of a university. In conceiving and drafting the framework of an ideal society, universities should look at all aspects — everything from the arts and sports to business and medicine. They should also consider the ideal structure of government — one that ensures individual liberty and places certain checks on the power of elected officials. One of the ways we currently do that is through our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But what about other rights, including, most importantly, economic rights? Why has no society ever enshrined an economic charter of rights, and what should those rights be? One thing is clear: democratic charters of rights need to be fortified with economic rights, because if a society’s economy is weak, then everything within society will suffer. If citizens can’t feed themselves or don’t have access to medical care because the economy has collapsed, then all the best government programs and philosophies don’t mean much.”

Frank Stronach in National Post May 14, 2024 [but it is surely extraordinary that he does not know Magna Carta does enshrine economic rights including to property or that the U.S. Constitution does].