In my latest National Post column I praise Prince Philip for his character, modesty and acid wit, three things the modern world needs badly.
"It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious." A.N. Whitehead
"An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?" Michel de Saint-Pierre according to "Thought du jour" in Globe and Mail January 18, 2001
"We have a very weak supply of words of praise as compared with our rich and varied output of terms of abuse." G.K. Chesterton, "Both sides of the Looking Glass" in The Spice of Life, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 8 #1 (September 2004)
"Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have." Doris Mortman
"As someone once said, the price of sheltering people from their own folly is to fill the world with fools." Link Byfield in British Columbia Report June 10, 1996
"Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality..." Blaise Pascal, Pensées
"If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?" T.S. Eliot, quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe and Mail January 31, 2012