"Only through scrutiny of the past can society descry the limitations of human nature.”

Russel Kirk The Conservative Mind

“in all their actions all men do in fact aim at what they think good.”

Aristotle The Politics

“If you want to succeed, it would be wise for you to choose your beliefs carefully, rather than walking around like a piece of flypaper, picking up whichever belief sticks.”

Anthony Robbins Unlimited Power

Queen Victoria: "You are a genius.” Pianist Vladimir de Pachmann: "Perhaps, Your Majesty, but before that I was a drudge."

Clifton Fadiman, ed, The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes

"There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions."

G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News January 13, 1906, quoted in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 4 #7

"You couldn’t get me there with a box of candy or a ton of dynamite."

Then-premier of Saskatchewan Roy Romanow on running for federal office, quoted in Maclean’s June 12, 1995

"the difference between passion and addiction is that between a divine spark and a flame that incinerates. The sacred fire through which Moshe (Moses) experienced the presence of God on Mount Horeb did not annihilate the bush from which it arose... Passion is divine fire: it enlivens and makes holy; it gives light and yields inspiration. Passion is generous because it’s not ego-drive; addiction is self-centred."

Gabor Maté In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts

"The ruling class of the eighteenth century were coarse and corrupt, but they were capable and courageous. They made great blunders, they were blind and indifferent to great evils, but they weathered terrible storms."

Sir C.P. Ilbert Parliament