Non Fiction Authors From Canada

"In every literate society, learning to read is something of an initiation, a ritualized passage out of a state of dependency and rudimentary communication."

"The American psychologist Julian Jaynes, in a controversial study on the origin of consciousness, argued that the bicameral mind - in which one of the hemispheres becomes specialized in silent reading - is a late development in humankind's evolution, and that the process by which this function develops is still changing."

"Augustine's description of Ambrose's silent reading (including the remark that he never read aloud) is the first definite instance recorded in Western literature."

"Nothing moves except my eyes and my hand occasionally turning a page, and yet something not exactly defined by the word "text" unfurls, progresses, grows and takes root as I read. But how does this process take place?"

"I quickly learned that reading is cumulative and proceeds by geometric progression: each new reading builds upon whatever the reader has read before."

"A book brings its own history to the reader."

"I never talked to anyone about my reading; the need to share came afterwords."

"reading is at the beginning of the social contract"

"We read to understand, or to begin to understand. We cannot do but to read. Reading almost as much as breathing, is our essential function."

"A society can exist - many do exist - without writing, but no society can exist without reading."

"It hardly matters why a library is destroyed: every banning, curtailment, shredding, plunder or loot gives rise (at least as a ghostly presence) to a louder, clearer, more durable library of the banned, looted, plundered, shredded or curtailed. Those books may no longer be available for consultation, they may exist only in the vague memory of a reader or in the vaguer-still memory of tradition and legend, but they have acquired a kind of immortality."

"Every text assumes a reader."

"The shelves of books we haven't written, like those of books we haven't read, stretches out into the darkness of the universal library's farthest space. We are always at the beginning of the beginning of the letter A."

"Slothful, feeble, pretentious, pedantic, elitist - these are some of the epithets that eventually become associated with the absent minded scholar, the poor sighted reader, the book worm, the nerd."

"I remember a Stephen Harper once upon a time... You've become what you used to oppose... Mr. Harper, what happened to you? What changed?"

"Twenty years ago, he co-founded an organization dedicated to eliminating men’s violence against women the White Ribbon Campaign. What started as a meeting has grown into a movement against violence spanning 60 countries. Not long ago, my dad offered the new executive director some advice that I’ll share with you now. He said, ‘Always have a dream that’s longer than a life-time. If faut toujours avoir des rêves qui dépassent la durée de la vie. Friends: be loving, be hopeful, be optimistic. Together we can build the world of our dreams.’ And as he always said, ‘Don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done.’"

"Inevitably, we’ve fastened on those last memorable lines about hope, optimism and love. But the letter was, at its heart, a manifesto for social democracy. And if there was one word that might sum up Jack Layton’s unabashed, social democratic message, it would be “generosity.” He wanted, in the simplest and most visceral terms, a more generous Canada."

"It’s about saying, ‘Hi Olivia. How’s Beatrice doing?’ It’s about remembering each other and our loves and our lives together. Over the next few years, we won’t not be able to say, ‘Hi Jack. How’s Olivia doing?’ But you can say, ‘Hi Jack. How are we doing?’"

"Mes amis, l’amour est cent fois meilleur que la haine. L’espoir est meilleur que la peur. L’optimisme est meilleur que le désespoir. Alors aimons, gardons espoir et restons optimistes. Et nous changerons le monde."

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

"Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done."

"If I've tried to bring anything to federal politics, it's the idea that hope and optimism should be at their heart; we can look after each other better than we do today."

"Why has he closed the door on Canada Post? Here's a guy who says he was a terrific manager of the economy and all things economic yet he's shut down our postal service. It's certainly the wrong thing to do and it sends a very bad signal out to the working people that tromp up and down our sidewalks and deliver our mail … that he doesn't really respect the bargaining process."

"I think we've come to where we are because of those positive ties and working together for working families. That's our priority and continues to be. It's been there since our founding and we've now achieved the best success we've ever had electorally. So I think you want to continue with what's working"

"(The lockout) makes no sense unless you put it in the context of a wider strategy, which is to somehow weaken Canadians' commitment to Canada Post so that ultimately, when the government gets out there to privatize it, they think they can get the public on their side"

"It's a privilege and it's an honour and Olivia and I are certainly looking forward to visiting this beautiful, historic building and being able to stay there during the session when we're here in Ottawa."

"I've always favoured proposition over opposition. But we will oppose the government when it's off track.We'll support positive suggestions that we'll bring forward and support the government when it's making progress."

"Spring is here my friends and a new chapter begins."

"“That’s been a hashtag fail." And on the temptations stemming from a life of crime: "With the bling and everything that comes with it.""

"Most Canadians, if they don't show up for work, they don't get a promotion. … You missed 70 per cent of the votes."

"This is a budget that does not protect the vulnerable, it doesn't protect the jobs of today and it doesn't create the jobs that we need for tomorrow."

"He's put a lock on the door of the House of Commons and he refuses to face the people of Canada through their elected representatives"

"We have not made these choices lightly, Our decision was made in the full seriousness and clear knowledge of what is at stake."

"This debate is coming down essentially to two visions — Mr. Harper's vision for Canada and my vision for Canada, and to a decision to be made by people disappointed by Mr. (Stephane) Dion"

"Layton: After all these years of inaction, will the Prime Minister finally get something done and do something the former government would not do and that is to cancel the subsidies to big oil and big ass--I mean big gas and start putting-- Stephen Harper: Mr. Speaker, I promise to get to the bottom of it."

"I ask you to join me in saying that enough is enough with Liberal arrogance and scandals and enough to the vote-buying promises of the Conservatives. There's a better choice, a third option, the NDP"

"I believe that when Paul Martin cancelled affordable housing across this country it produced a dramatic rise in homelessness and deaths due to homelessness and I've always said I hold him responsible for that."

"Politics matters. Ideas matter. Democracy matters."

"This gorgeous Chinese girl gets up and I fell in love instantly."

"We want to challenge the established ideas with new ideas."

"If it's a flash it's been an awfully long flash. I've been around for 20 years in one of the largest media and political markets in the country, so I'd call it more of a slow burn."

"Attention, attention, the key to practice, so many teachers have said. It’s true. When we come to know, even a little, this truly miraculous and open nature of our being, we begin to appreciate the jewels and riches in these very simple instructions that come down to us through our teachers."

"Each time you sit down to practice, take a few minutes to feel in your heart why this is important to you."

"The most reliable way to cut through the thinking process is to bring attention to what you are experiencing in the body."

"Some find they can practice effectively by bringing attention to the arising of like, dislike and indifference in their meditation practice and daily life. Others are able to use the power of loving kindness, compassion, equanimity, or devotion to change the way they experience things. And still others develop or naturally have enough capacity in awareness that they experience attraction as delight, aversion as clarity, and indifference as non-thought."

"Appeals to justice or fairness are almost always stories that hide or protect unacknowledged hurts or pains."

"When you experience things completely, then you know what they are."

"What's the dominant emotion associated with purity? Anger. The most aggressive people are the ones who insist on being utterly pure. It's responsible for countless wars at all levels of society. Far better to have no aspiration, no hope and relate to things just as they are."

"When you read sutras don't seek to understand them. Stay in touch with precisely what they are eliciting in terms of experience in you."

"As you become more awake you actually find yourself with less and less choice about what you do in any given situation. And you have less choice because you see more clearly. This is a very important point. Clarity doesn’t create more options. It eliminates options because you see that they aren’t appropriate or they don’t work."