"The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons."Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you believe that, Sir, you will believe anything" The Duke of Wellington, greeted by a stranger in a park with "Mr. Smith, I believe?" (according to Anthony de Jasay, The State)

"Abandon all hopelessness, ye who enter here" Dale Ahlquist opening the 2006 Chesterton Conference in St. Paul, MN

In my latest National Post column I argue that while history doesn't repeat, its lessons do... especially for those not paying attention. (Due to an editing mishap, at the end of the 3rd paragraph, between the sentence ending "great and small." and the one beginning "Regrettably, as with...", the sentence "But I am sure we’re not going to fight World War One again." was omitted.)

"What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know." St. Augustine, quoted in Jon Winokur, Zen To Go

"Wish not so much to live long as to live well." Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

"Sam Spade: Ten thousand? We were talking about a lot more money than this. Kasper Gutman: Yes, sir, we were, but this is genuine coin of the realm. With a dollar of this, you can buy ten dollars of talk." The Maltese Falcon

"And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." Luke 2:16