Pursuing Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Sage sayings, maxims and quotable quotes
The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect! – Charles N. Barnard Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. – Larry Wilde The best Christmas trees come very close to exceeding nature. – Andy Rooney Gee, do they still make wooden…
Here are a dozen featured #QOTDs relating to existentialism from the By George Journal’s social media feeds over the last two months. Click into By George each day for inspiration and motivation – on Twitter and Facebook! Chris George is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of CG&A COMMUNICATIONS. Contact: ChrisG.George@gmail.com
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie…
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to…
It is the Solider! Not the Minister Who has given us freedom of religion. It is the Soldier, not the reporter Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the Soldier, not the poet Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer Who has given us…
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,England mourns for her dead across the sea.Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,Fallen in the cause of the free. Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royalSings sorrow up into immortal spheres.There is music in the midst of desolationAnd a glory that shines upon…
Poignant quotes and verse, lest we forget… The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them. – Czeslaw Milosz, The Issa Valley The greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their children. – William Havard We must be prepared to make heroic…
”Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway . ” ”Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday. ” ” Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from…
Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1747) was an English philosopher and social reformer regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism. Bentham defined as the “fundamental axiom” of his philosophy the principle that “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.” Bentham’s students included his secretary and collaborator…
Albert Camus (1913 – 1960) was a French philosopher, author, and journalist. At the young age of 44 Camus was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature. His remarkable works include: The Stranger, The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall and The Rebel. (More on Camus below.) Here are By George Journal’s 15 favourite…
To play so well and for so long is simply incredible. No player will ever do the things in hockey that Gordie [Howe] did. – Wayne Gretzky The finest athlete of them all, that’s what Gordie [Howe] is. And when I say athlete I’m talking about any sport. Take everything into consideration: his age, his…
By George Journal shares a dozen unforgettable quotes on the greatest game on ice. He shoots! He scores! – Foster Hewitt Skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been. – Wayne Gretzky But I smile at the small-town myth for the harmless, happy days it gave me, and…
Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience. One day you’ll wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do them now. People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping…
Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience….
“The Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher took office as Prime Minister of Britain in 1979 with the objective to transform what had become a socialist nation to value free enterprise and capitalism once again. In her own words, Thatcher stated: “I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a…
In completing the task of quoting from all our country’s Prime Ministers – from Sir John A. to our current PM Justin Trudeau – we now return to our favourite quotable PM: John George Diefenbaker. Here are 10 more musings from one of Canada’s most colourful leaders. My abiding interest is your interest; my…
Here are 10 of By George’s favourite quotes of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister and a Father of Confederation. Politics is a game requiring great coolness and an utter abnegation of prejudice and personal feeling. There were, unfortunately, no great principles on which parties were divided – politics became a mere struggle…
Friedrich August von (F.A.) Hayek (1899 – 1992) was an Austrian-British economist and philosopher who is best known for his defence of classical liberalism. In 1974, Hayek shared a Nobel Prize for his work on economics. Friedrich Hayek has been referred to as “the most prodigious classical liberal scholar of the 20th century.” His ideas…
I don’t campaign. I just visit with the people. Nothing I ever do is political. I never say anything provocative. I do not say that everything I did was right, but what I do say, Mr. Speaker, is that what I did was honest. I was criticized for being too much concerned with the…
I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind. Freedom is…