In my latest Loonie Politics column I say the Canadian chattering classes’ lead-balloon response to Trump’s clumsy 51st-state joke was devoid of wit in any sense.

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

Alexander Pope quoted in “Random Foolish Quotations” in Gilbert Magazine Vol. 7 # 7 (June 2004) [and yes, I know you know it, but in addition to being worthy of recall it’s interesting to know where it came from].

“If you have to swallow a frog, it’s best not to look at it too long.”

Tennessee governor Ned McWherter quoted in The Economist April 6, 1991 [specifically urging the legislature to adopt a state income tax, which I’m against, but I applaud the maxim as a general rule]

“a favorite theme of Chesterton, namely the vacuity of the mind of the man of no dogmas.”

Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 3 #7 (June 2000)

“Most of us can keep a secret. It’s the people we tell it to who can’t.”

In The Buzzer (published by BC Transit) Jan. 14, 1994, not attributed.

In my latest Epoch Times column I ask that Santa Claus bring me a functioning Canadian military up north, and everywhere, because my government certainly doesn’t seem likely to provide one.

“as difficult as leadership is, it is not complicated. In its simplest form, leadership is ‘accomplishing a task with the people and resources you have while maintaining the integrity of your institution.’”

Author’s “Introduction” to William H. McRaven The Wisdom of the Bullfrog

“History cannot be written unless the historian can achieve some kind of contact with the mind of those about whom he is writing.”

E. H. Carr, What Is History?