"A man who shows no resentment at being slapped is overwhelmed with insults and forced into need."

Blaise Pascal Pensées (one of his examples of the wisdom of “Ordinary people”)

"Some drink deeply from the river of knowledge. Others only gargle."

Woody Allen, quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe & Mail Feb. 15, 2011 [I realize Allen has been revealed as a pretty unsavoury character... but it's still a good line even if it could fairly be applied to him]

"He was a genius - that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities."

Robertson Davies Fifth Business

 “The motto ‘Do the right thing and let God take care of the consequences’ makes sense only on the assurance that he will take care of the consequences. Without that assurance, doing the right thing means taking care of the consequences – or trying to.”

J. Budziszewski in First Things June-July 2002

"so smooth that he made ice feel like sandpaper."

Description of a criminal by a senior Scotland Yard type in "The Missing Necklace" by Jacques Futrelle (in Alan K. Russell, ed., Rivals of Sherlock Holmes vol. 2).

"The questions are not how or when we die. It is how and why we live."

Ron McCloskey in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 5 #5 (March 2002)

“Now in the year 1066 the grandson of a Norse pirate was recognized as king of England. Why should we ever read fairy stories, when the truth of history is so much more interesting and entertaining?”

Hendrick Van Loon The Story of Mankind.

“Over the years, I have come to understand a critical difference between the world of fear and the world of freedom. In the former, the primary challenge is finding the inner strength to confront evil. In the latter, the primary challenge is finding the moral clarity to see evil.”

Natan Sharansky with Ron Dermer The Case for Democracy