"an open mind is salutary, but one whose hinge is off?"
"H. Smith" [according to my detailed but now sadly incomprehensible note as to its origin]
"Symbolism and ritual keep things much simpler than they would otherwise be."
G.K. Chesterton in Illustrated London News April 14, 1906, quoted in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 6 #3 (Dec. 2002).
“He [police lieutenant Rowcliffe] said he understood my position perfectly, and how about my getting wise to myself and spilling some beans? I was, I told him, fresh out of beans."
Archie Goodwin’s internal monologue in Rex Stout The Silent Speaker
"The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them."
G.K. Chesterton, Autobiography, quoted in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 4 #7
"I was honoured – incredibly honoured – to receive an award in [Pierre Berton’s] name. He understood that history is a narrative form, one that can be engaging and vivid. Pierre Berton showed me a Canada that was worthy of passion."
Will Ferguson in a Q&A in The Beaver Oct.-Nov. 2005, re having won the Pierre Berton award for popularizing Canadian history from the National History Society
"Truth unasserted is a lie unopposed."
George Jonas in the National Post Dec. 11, 2010
"As one writer put it in the Wall St. Journal, when cowards ascend to positions of leadership, their character is revealed. They panic in a crisis. They don’t know what to do."
R. Cort Kirkwood in Ottawa Sun Dec. 20, 1998
"Amateurs practice until they can get it right; professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong."
"Anonymous", quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe & Mail Dec. 27, 2004