“doctors joke about a test for insanity: Put someone in a room with an overflowing sink and a mop. And then see if he tries to mop up the mess - or just turns off the tap.”

Peter Brimelow in National Review April 7, 1997

“He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise.”

Lao-Tzu [e-mailed by a friend without further attribution]

“A pessimist is one who has been intimately acquainted with an optimist.”

Elbert Hubbard, quoted in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail Sept. 13, 2004

Suzanne: “Rob, don’t talk to me when I’m at my wits’ end."
Rob (to Tina): "… Is Suzanne ever at her wits’ beginning?”
Tina: “It’s a very narrow window of opportunity…"

“Tina’s Groove” comic strip in Ottawa Citizen March 9, 2004

“the sanest of all human impulses, the impulse that bids us put our trust in industry and a defined aim.”

G.K. Chesterton, “Lunacy and Letters,” in Alberto Manguel, ed., On Lying in Bed and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton

“It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.”

Réné Descartes, Discours de la Méthode (I’ve seen it variously translated; the original is “Ce n'est pas assez d'avoir l'esprit bon, mais le principal est de l'appliquer bien.”)

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. If the cause of the trouble lies in your own character, set about reforming your principles; who is there to hinder you? If it is the failure to take some apparently sound course of action that is vexing you, then why not take it, instead of fretting? ‘There is an insuperable obstacle in the way.’ In that case, do not worry; the responsibility for inaction is not yours. ‘But life is not worth living with this undone.’ Why then, bid life a good-humoured farewell; accepting the frustration gracefully, and dying like any other man whose actions have not been inhibited.”

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“If you can be summed up in a paragraph, there’s something wrong with you.”

Victoria Coren in The London Observer quoted as “Thought du jour” in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail February 21, 2005