“The same sense of the relentlessly interwoven texture of human fate was touched by the schoolboy who said: ‘Dad, I hate war.’ ‘Why, son?’ ‘Because war makes history, and I hate history.’”
Marshall McLuhan Understanding Media
“Popular writing in this connexion is far below the zero of knowledge or common decency. On this plane, not only is any real knowledge of the Classical writers non-existent but, further, their place has been taken by a set of mythological figures, passing by the same names, but not infrequently invested with attitudes almost the exact reverse of those which the originals adopted. These dummies are very malignant creatures indeed. They are the tools or lacqueys of capitalist exploiters – I think that has the authentic stylistic flavour. They are indefatigable opponents of social reform. They can conceive no function for the state other than that of the night watchman.... Now, doubtless, the best remedy for this state of affairs would be that people should once more turn to the original texts. I hope that this... is what will happen in those universities which are once more insisting on some minimum knowledge of the history of economic thought. But, since life is short and the literature is extensive, there is perhaps something to be said for yet another attempt to get the wide field into something like a correct focus.”
Lionel Robbins The Theory of Economic Policy in English Classical Political Economy
“The feeling of having taken a wrong turning in life was made worse by the fact that he could not, for the life of him, remember having taken any turnings at all.”
“Charles Fernyhough, writer”, quoted as “Thought du jour” in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail June 11, 2010
“I am unbelievably lucky: a. to be an American; b. To have my wife, the world’s finest human; c. To have never been severely or at least life-threateningly ill; d. To have never been in combat; e. To have had loving, caring, prosperous parents; f. To have an interesting, well-paid career; g. To have great friends, a great sister, nephew, niece, cousins, and, above all, son; h. Above all, to have learned to love and worship a God of love and understanding.”
“Benjamin J. Stein’s Diary” on his 60th birthday in The American Spectator February 2005
“There is bad religion, just as there is bad cooking, bad art or bad sex...”
Karen Armstrong in the Ottawa Citizen “Citizen’s Weekly” May 12, 2002.
“A really boring remark or conversation is a said-ative.”
Me July 9, 2004.
“One thing, however, I am very sure of: and that is, that if all mankind agreed to meet, and everyone brought his own sufferings along with him for the purpose of exchanging them for somebody else’s, there is not a man who, after taking a good look at his neighbour’s sufferings, would not be only too happy to return home with his own.”
Herodotus The Histories
“It was Macaulay who remarked that it was not pleasant to live in times about which it was exciting to read.”
Marshall McLuhan Understanding Media