“Taking architecture seriously therefore makes some singular and strenuous demands upon us. It requires that we open ourselves to the idea that we are affected by our surroundings even when they are made of vinyl and would be expensive and time-consuming to ameliorate. It means conceding that we are inconveniently vulnerable to the colour of our wallpaper and that our sense of purpose may be derailed by an unfortunate bedspread. At the same time, it means acknowledging that buildings are able to solve no more than fraction of our dissatisfactions or prevent evil from unfolding under their watch.”

Alain de Botton The Architecture of Happiness.

“That first, bloody defeat of a previously invincible superpower in 490 BCE [Persia, at Marathon] has never been forgotten in the West. Nor have the battles that followed it – the heroic last stand of the Spartan 300 at Thermopylae, the crucial victories of the Athenians at sea off Salamis and of the Spartans on land at Plataea…. John Stuart Mill claimed ‘the battle of Marathon, even as an event in English history, is more important than the battle of Hastings.’”

A very positive review of Tom Holland’s Persian Fire in Maclean’s December 26 2005 (I did not record the name of the reviewer)

“the purpose of work is the product. The purpose of a brewery is not to create jobs for brewery workers, nor to create dividends for brewery shareholders, nor heaven knows to provide proving grounds for social justice. It is to make beer – the best possible beer at the most competitive possible price.” Ted Byfield in British Columbia Report Dec. 1 1997 (attributing the concept to Dorothy Sayers)

“Reputation is what you are in the limelight; character what you are in the dark. Many a man’s reputation and character would not recognize each other if they met.”

His Honour J. Tudor Rees

“Life is supposed to be a joyful journey. It isn’t supposed to be a hassle.” Woman in a Tony Robbins promotional video on late night television on July 23, 1993

“Philosophy is really homesickness, an urge to be at home everywhere. Where, then, are we going? Always to our home.” Novalis, Fragments

“Wit is the key, I think, to anybody’s heart. Show me the person who doesn’t like to laugh and I’ll show you a person with a toe tag.” Julia Roberts

“nearly all things not evil are better in experience than in theory.” Dale Ahlquist in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 3 #1 (Sept. 1999)