“The smoke may be coming out right here, but the fire is obviously somewhere else. No good throwing water on the smoke.” William Gairdner The Trouble with Democracy

“All of humanity's problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées

“Once you laugh at a thing, it becomes sacred forever.” G.K. Chesterton, quoted by Frances Farrell in Gilbert! Vol. 4 #8 (July/August 2001)

“And isn’t this obvious, that people derive most of their benefits from knowing themselves, and most of their misfortunes from being self-deceived?” Socrates in Xenophon Conversations of Socrates

“the core Western conviction about history – that the human story was not just one damn thing after another – was deeply influenced by Christian doctrine.” George Weigel, The Cube and the Cathedral

“Could you personally run the nation or the world? Of course not! Then draw a perfectly obvious conclusion: Neither can anyone else.” Leonard E. Read Let Freedom Reign

“You can’t run away from trouble… ain’t no place that far.” Sign in lineup area for Splash Mountain at Disney World.

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” Albert Einstein, quoted in Jeff Hayden’s “Top 350 Inspiring Motivational Quotes to Tweet and Share” at www.inc.com