"This is not to say that there may not be a case in justice for correcting positions which have been determined by earlier unjust acts or institutions. But unless such injustice is clear and recent, it will generally be impractical to correct it. It will on the whole seem preferable to accept the given position as due to accident and simply from the present onwards to refrain from any measures aiming at benefiting particular individuals or groups."
Friedrich Hayek in Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol. 2
"The king [Hrolf, to Bodvar] said, 'I knew when you came here that few would be your equal, but it seems to me that your finest achievement is that you have made Hott into another champion. He was previously thought to be a man in whom there was little probability of much luck.'"
The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki
In my latest National Post column I ask how Canadians are meant to understand their system of government when party leaders like Elizabeth May clearly don't.
"The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell."
Zora Hurston, quoted in Elie Nasrallah Hostage to History
"No matter how bad things are, you have to remember, either you get killed or you don’t. The rest is just psychology."
His father on living through the Blitz, quoted by David Warren in Ottawa Citizen October 21, 2001
In my latest National Post column I see worrying parallels between the federal Liberals and King James II on raising revenue without real Parliamentary consent.