In my latest Mercatornet piece I argue that Stephen Hawking’s arguments in his last book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, are as unconvincing as they are dreary.

“Pas assez fou pour mettre le feu, mais pas assez fin pour l’éteindre."

A “Quebec saying” emailed by a friend (roughly “Not dumb (or crazy) enough to set the place on fire, but not smart (or sensible) enough to put the fire out”)

“‘Don’t be a fly on the wall,’ wise cons advise. ‘Be the wall.’”

Maclean’s April 9, 2001 [I did not record the name of the author]

“Four park benches sit on the lawn at Wesley United Church at Main and Graham, offering weary passersby a place to rest. They aren’t chained or locked. One of the slats in the benches bears the inscription: ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ But it’s probably the added inscription on the next slat that is most effective. ‘God is watching.’”

Dave Brown Best of Brown

“Don’t trust the heart, it wants your blood.”

Stanislaw Jerzy Lec quoted on www.memorablequotations.com/lec.htm (accessed December 30, 2003)

“It is a pleasant and consoling thought to think that our posterity will find sufficient entertainment in the contemplation of the enormous blunders that you are making at this moment. That will be a continuous source of laughter and joy to them.”

G.K. Chesterton in “Culture and the Coming Peril” in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 8 #5 (March-April 2005)

In my latest National Post column I celebrate Meghan Markle’s pregnancy as the sort of happy thing we need more of in the world, our lives and the newspapers.