“He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise.”

Lao-Tzu [e-mailed by a friend without further attribution]

“A pessimist is one who has been intimately acquainted with an optimist.”

Elbert Hubbard, quoted in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail Sept. 13, 2004

“Liberty, next to religion, has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race.”

Start of Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton) The History of Freedom

Suzanne: “Rob, don’t talk to me when I’m at my wits’ end."
Rob (to Tina): "… Is Suzanne ever at her wits’ beginning?”
Tina: “It’s a very narrow window of opportunity…"

“Tina’s Groove” comic strip in Ottawa Citizen March 9, 2004

“the sanest of all human impulses, the impulse that bids us put our trust in industry and a defined aim.”

G.K. Chesterton, “Lunacy and Letters,” in Alberto Manguel, ed., On Lying in Bed and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton

“History is a vaccine against bad ideas. Unfortunately, current problems arise largely from a recycling of bad ideas from the past.”

Valerius Geist, Wildlife Conservation Policy

In my latest Mercatornet article I warn that AI is moving further and faster than we understand, with potentially disastrous consequences even if it gives us the life we think we want.

In my latest National Post column I say leftist parties are losing traction with the public, often sympathetic to them on other issues, because too much of the left unreflectively treats disloyalty to Western civilization as a virtue.