"Thank heaven, I am bringing to at least one human being the news that is at bottom the only good news to any son of Adam. Your life has not been useless." Adam Wayne to Turnbull, the toy-shop keeper, in G.K. Chesterton The Napoleon of Notting Hill

"Leadership is the practical application of character" Colonel R. Meinertzhagen, quoted by Cliff Chadderton Excuse Us! Herr Schicklgruber

"Hey, I’m not a Pollyanna about the way the world works. Not all the turtles are going to make it to the ocean. That’s not negativism. That’s pragmatism." Dennis Miller The Rants

"Begin by looking at everything from the moral point of view, and you will end by believing in God." Thomas Arnold, famous headmaster of Rugby school and father of Matthew Arnold, quoted in Gertrude Himmelfarb The De-moralization of Society

"it must be remembered, that life consists not in a series of illustrious actions, or elegant enjoyments; the greater part of our time passes in compliance with necessities, in the performance of our daily duties, in the removal of small inconveniences, in the procurement of petty pleasures…" Samuel Johnson, quoted in D.J. Enright’s introduction to Johnson's The History of Rasselas

"Victims can be victims and not be innocent." David Rieff, A Bed for the Night (header quotation on Chapter 2 of Carol Off The Ghosts of Medak Pocket)

"It is easier to make good men wise than to make bad men good." Henry Fielding, explaining the moral of his novel Tom Jones, quoted by Joseph Schwartz in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 3 No. 4 (Jan/Feb. 2000)

"Being a professional is doing all the things you love to do on the days when you don’t feel like doing them." Julius "Dr. J" Erving, quoted as "Thought du jour" in Globe and Mail November 15, 2001