"Man sets self ablaze using chainsaw to open gas tank"

Headline in Ottawa Citizen April 20, 2006 (from my "It didn't even seem like a good idea at the time" file)

"Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves, will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not lie ready to their hand, they will make them. It is not those who have enjoyed the advantages of colleges, museums, and public galleries, that have accomplished the most for science and art; nor have the greatest mechanics and inventors been trained in mechanics’ institutes. Necessity, oftener than facility, has been the mother of invention; and the most prolific school of all has been the school of difficulty."

Samuel Smiles Self-Help p. 82.

"Take away religion and we are truly reduced to the condition of talking animals…"

David Warren, “Sunday Spectator,” in Ottawa Citizen May 15, 2005

"It’s my job to see that the chips stay up."

Bernard Woolley in "Yes Minister" when asked by Hacker whose side he would be on when the chips were down

"Looking back some folks might say I was successful/ That I shook the hands of kings and presidents/ And I surely think they’ll say I did my duty/ And struck a blow for love and common sense."

"Every Place I’ve Ever Been” on the album Guess Things Happen That Way by Cowboy Jack Clement

"Whether one wishes it or not, man is also a historical animal: the place he occupies in time is as important for him as that which he occupies in space…"

Régine Pernoud Those Terrible Middle Ages

"Public thinkers such as politicians and members of the media who comment on them are the first generation of our society to have been badly schooled without being aware of the fact."

"Mad Intelligence” in George William Rutler He Spoke to Us

"Yes-men are good for the ego but not for the soul. They have no effect on your thinking, and you can hardly expect them to impress your opponents."

David Gelernter in National Review March 9, 1998