"Extreme pessimism is a luxury that only the very young can afford. As you become older, pessimism becomes much more spiritually expensive, and you don’t indulge in it unless you are really convinced of what you’re saying. When you’re a 25-year-old, it looks good to say that life is just a can of worms. When you’re 55, it’s not as funny. You’ve seen a few worms by that time."

Robertson Davies, quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe & Mail Oct. 12, 2005

“one of the most remarkable things about the great philosophical books is that they ask the same sort of profound questions that children ask. The ability to retain the child’s view of the world, with at the same time a mature understanding of what it means to retain it, is extremely rare – and a person who has these qualities is likely to be able to contribute something really important to our thinking. We are not required to think as children in order to understand existence. Children certainly do not, and cannot, understand it – if, indeed, anyone can. But we must be able to see as children see, to wonder as they wonder, to ask as they ask.”

Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren How to Read a Book

“Nothing can be clearer than that we require a story to explain to ourselves why we are here and what our future is to be, and many other things, including where authority resides.”

Neil Postman Building a Bridge to the 18th Century

“Anyone can learn from a good teacher. The real test is being able to learn from a bad one.”

J. Budziszewski “Underground Thomist” Feb. 25, 2019

“Pessimism insists on the shortness of human life in order to show that life is valueless. Religion insists on the shortness of human life in order to show that life is frightfully valuable – is almost horribly valuable. Pessimism says that life is so short that it gives nobody a chance; religion says that life is so short that it gives everybody his final chance.”

G.K. Chesterton, “Nicholas Nickleby”, in Appreciations and Criticisms of Charles Dickens, quoted in “Chesterton’s Mail Bag” in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 10 #4 (Jan.-Feb. 2007)

“When the knight came upon the dragon, did he estimate whether the dragon could be overcome in his lifetime? No. He stood up and fought.”

J. Budziszewski in “Underground Thomist” email Feb. 25, 2019

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

Henry David Thoreau, quoted on www.hound-dog-media.com

"We confess to little faults only to persuade ourselves that we have no great ones."

François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, quoted on www.hound-dog-media.com