“‘People with bad eating habits have “devilish” brains that prevent them exercising self-control, a study has shown. Researchers in the United States have discovered an “angel” centre in the brain which holds back a “devil” region to stop us giving in to temptation. It allows a person to weigh abstract considerations such as “healthiness” against basic desires such as a craving for rich food,’ Britain’s The Independent reports. The study’s co-author, Prof. Colin Camerer of the California Institute of Technology, said: ‘After centuries of debate we are making big strides in understanding self-control from watching the brain resist temptation.’ The ‘angel’ centre is called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), while the ‘devil region’ is known as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The researchers hope to engage the DLPFC under normal conditions in people with poor self-control.’”

“Social Studies” in Globe & Mail May 7, 2009.

“This is a barrel loaded with fish, but let’s take a brief shot anyway…”

Charles Gordon in Ottawa Citizen June 8, 2004 [specifically re young people who don’t see politicians who represent their interests but of much wider application IMHO].

“To know, but to be as though not knowing, is the height of wisdom.”

Last passage in Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts

“As if to underline the national decline [in Britain in the 1970s ], every flailing industry flew the moth-eaten flag: British Steel, British Coal, British Leyland. They were all owned by the state – even the last, which was the national automobile manufacturer. The government had taken all the famous British car marques – Austin, Morris, Rover, Jaguar, Triumph – and merged them into one. That’s right: the government made your car. Or, rather, a man called Red Robbo did, when he was in the mood, which wasn’t terribly often.”

Obit of James Callaghan by Mark Steyn in The Atlantic Monthly June 2005.

“A boy plays at being a soldier or at being a brigand, but have you ever known a boy who played at being a lawyer? A child does not want self-government. A child wants to have a good time; and it is our business, who know how short but how creative is his time in Eden, to give him a good time. But you cannot have a good time if you have self-government. Personal self-government is a most horrible nuisance. Public self-government is worse.”

G.K. Chesterton “Childish Talk About Children” reprinted in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 25 #6 (July/August 2022) [yes it’s a lot of Chesterton this week; I can’t help it that he was so wise and so eloquent].

In my latest Epoch Times column I say the big problem with Canada’s federal ethics commissioner isn’t the Liberals making a mockery of the post, it’s that we’re trying to substitute technical expertise for character.

“We must tell him to mind his mind.”

G.K. Chesterton “Gates and Gate-Crashers” in Sidelights quoted in Gilbert: The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 25 # 4 March-April 2022

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”

Henry van Dyke quoted as standalone “WORDS OF WISDOM” not further attributed in Epoch Times email August 30, 2022.