Potent Quotables # 1

Much I could have written about William F. Buckley, the proclaimed father of the modern American conservative movement, a strong influence in my life and writing even though I ultimately reject most of his political and social views. But I'll leave it at this instead, penned on December 3, 2007. Atypical perhaps, but it potentially may bear impact on more lives than anything else he may have written.

"Half a year ago my wife died, technically from an infection, but manifestly, at least in part, from a body weakened by 60 years of nonstop smoking. I stayed off the cigarettes but went to the idiocy of cigars inhaled, and suffer now from emphysema, which seems determined to outpace heart disease as a human killer. Stick me in a confessional and ask the question: Sir, if you had the authority, would you forbid smoking in America? You'd get a solemn and contrite, Yes."

-- William F. Buckley (24 November 1925 – 27 February 2008)