“generally it is good, to commit the beginnings of all great actions to Argus, with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus, with his hundred hands; first to watch, and then to speed.”
Francis Bacon, Bacon’s Essays (edited with Introduction and Notes by F.G. Selby).
“Remembrance is the only paradise out of which we cannot be driven away. Pleasure is the flower that fades, remembrance is the lasting perfume. Remembrances last longer than present realities; I have preserved blossoms for many years, but never fruits.”
Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts
“The headwaiter of an elegant restaurant recoiled in disgust as a man in boots, torn jeans and a leather jacket approached him. ‘Hey, man,’ he said, ‘where’s the bathroom?’ ‘Go down the hall and turn left,’ replied the headwaiter. ‘When you see the sign marked “Gentlemen,” pay no attention to it and go right on in.’”
From the Jokesmith, cited in Reader’s Digest, April 1997, quoted in “Quotes, Notes and Anecdotes (The Write File Quarterly)” Spring 1997
In my latest Loonie Politics column I say one major reason the US Presidential race is closer than you might expect is that most of the unrest over race and police misconduct is in cities controlled by the Democrats, in states controlled by the Democrats, suggesting their approach to social harmony is not working.
“My weakness as a traveler is that the world seems to me so amusing everywhere that it is hardly worthwhile to travel.”
G.K. Chesterton in “The Outline of a City” in The Resurrection of Rome, quoted in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 12 #5 (March 2009)
“there is still more in us of the chimp than the baboon.”
Elaine Morgan The Descent of Woman
In my latest National Post column I say the search for life in space is boooring because only life with photosynthesis is interesting and even if we find it, which seems highly unlikely, it won’t solve any of our moral or even technological problems here on Earth.