“In this pathetic and simple-minded view, humans are to be but life-support systems for free-wheeling genitalia.”
William Gairdner The Trouble with Democracy
“You will be extremely lucky to get this person to work for you.”
Another “he’s an extraordinary man” veiled insult for use in an insincere letter of recommendation [again I don’t know the source but do not claim to have invented it].
“No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye.”
Elizabeth Bowen, quoted in Jon Winokur Zen to Go
“History has always, and properly, been regarded as ‘the school of princes’. We should not hesitate – we should be eager – to make it the school of peoples.”
Paul Johnson The Offshore Islanders
“The anointed don’t like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy ‘solutions’ that get rid of the whole problem - at least in their imagination.”
Thomas Sowell Is Reality Optional?
“brilliant, but not correct.”
Quoted in Horace Porter Campaigning with Grant as “what Cuvier said of the French Academy’s definition of a crab”.
“Common sense is the little man in the grey suit who never makes a mistake in addition. But it’s always someone else’s money he’s adding up.”
“Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), American novelist” quoted as “Thought du jour” in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail Jan. 11, 2012
“Maybe we’re all just blobs of sentient meat in a senseless existence.”
Tina in the comic strip “Tina’s Groove” in Ottawa Citizen Feb. 15, 2003