“To be complex does not mean to be fragmented.”

I am appalled that the most vulnerable people in our society are still women.

Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves.

No one is so poor that they cannot give, and no one is so rich that they cannot receive.

Sometimes we read or hear too much news that makes us fearful or suspicious of others.

We can forget that most of the people that we know, or at least encounter regularly, are decent and friendly.

This is the paradox and the genius of our Canadian civilization.

You will have added your conception, your artful piece of stone.

Our horizon is the creation of a noble society to which, like the medieval builder of those glorious cathedrals.

As I go across the country and privately visit women’s shelters and counselling centres.

When you get on the boat that’s saving you, don’t pull up the ladder behind you

The mind has its own logic but does not often let others in on it.

In truth, I am nothing but a plodding mediocrity – please observe, a plodding mediocrity – for a mere mediocrity does not go very far, but a plodding one gets quite a distance. There is joy in that success, and a distinction can come from courage, fidelity and industry.

Finger pointing does not provide answers to grieving relatives

The armoury of having any academic education does not necessarily set you up for being a good or better actor.

The earth only has so much bounty to offer and inventing ever larger and more notional prices for that bounty does not change its real value.

If Wall Street crashes, does Main Street follow? Not necessarily.

If people understood what life insurance does, we wouldn’t need salesmen to sell it. People would come knocking on the door. But they don’t understand.

Having the equivalent of 150,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs at the ready does nothing to protect us from terrorists planning to sneak in a bomb through a cargo container.