"‘The decay of society is praised by artists as the decay of a corpse is praised by worms.'"
G.K. Chesterton, quoted in "Serenity in Storms” in George William Rutler He Spoke to Us
In my latest National Post column I say the fact that British millennials are far and away the fattest generation ever is proof that something is very wrong with how we're living today... and I blame family breakdown.
"As long as your players know, deep down, that you are trying to make them as good as they can be, then you can use just about anything [for motivation]. Even a disappearing act. Once, in 1978, we were losing to Notre Dame at halftime. Here was my halftime speech: 'Gentlemen, it’s one thing to be beaten. It’s another to be embarrassed.' And I walked out. We won, 28-14."
Bo Schembechler and Mitch Albom BO
"When Danish dramatist and poet Baron Ludwig Holbert (1684-1754) was asked by a scoffer 'Do you call that thing on your head a hat?' he replied: 'Do you call that thing under your hat a head?'"
"Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe and Mail November 17, 2003 p. A14.
"'Don’t you swelter all day in the sun?’ Epictetus asked rhetorically [comparing watching the logistically nightmarish ancient Olympic games to life generally]. 'Aren’t you jammed in with the crowds? Isn’t it hard to get a bath? Aren’t you soaked to the bone whenever it rains? Don’t the din and the shouting and the petty annoyances drive you completely mad? But of course you put up with it all because it’s an unforgettable spectacle.'"
Tony Perrottet, author of The Naked Olympics, in Ottawa Citizen July 17, 2004
"I won’t quarrel with Ralph Wood’s judgment that my book [The Naked Public Square] was intended as a corrective. Yet there was also a remedy proposed, and Wood says it has failed. I would prefer to say it has not been tried, but I admit that that may be something like failing."
Richard John Neuhaus in First Things #147 (November 2004)
In my latest National Post column I say we must be able to show compassion for victims of sexual abuse and of false accusation, and that compassion for women does not exclude compassion for men or vice versa.