Vincent Massey Quotes

• Canada is not a melting-pot. Canada is an association of peoples who have, and cherish, great differences but who work together because they can respect themselves and each other.

  Vincent Massey

  Differences, Together, Melting

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  17 Copy quote

• The great menace of civilization in the present is that we offer an education with too little regard for the roots.

  Vincent Massey

  Civilization, Roots, Littles

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey. Address at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, March 7, 1953, 1959.

  7 Copy quote

• Truth must the guide of those who hold the power; but humility is their sign, the promise that their privileges are in safe hands.

  Vincent Massey

  Humility, Hands, Promise

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey. Address at the Convocation of the University of British Columbia, May 18, 1954, 1959.

  8 Copy quote

• The age which we live in is not suited to idle complacency or to pleasant dreams of past greatness.

  Vincent Massey

  Dream, Past, Greatness

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey. Address at the Convocation of the University of Manitoba, October 28, 1952, 1959.

  8 Copy quote

• We can best serve the cause of Canadian unity and understanding by living first in and through and then beyond our own immediate traditions.

  Vincent Massey

  Understanding, Unity, Firsts

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  7 Copy quote

• Technology has been defined, perhaps a little ungenerously, as "a long Greek name for a bag of tools".

  Vincent Massey

  Technology, Names, Long

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  9 Copy quote

• It would be foolish and wrong to ignore the fact that all our universities today tread a very dangerous path. Increasingly, they are accepting government money because they are doing things that government wants done. How great a peril is this in a democracy?

  Vincent Massey

  Government, Democracy, Today

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  8 Copy quote

• It is the University's function to turn out well-balanced persons with an understanding of themselves and of their place in life.

  Vincent Massey

  Understanding, Function, Turns

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey. Address on the occasion of the Centenary of Trinity College, Toronto, Ontario, April 17, 1952, 1959.

  8 Copy quote

• In fact, in the far North one sees the northern lights facing south!

  Vincent Massey

  Light, Facts, Northern Lights

  Address to the Annual Dinner of the Canadian Press, Toronto, April 18, 1956.

  4 Copy quote

• I have had what might be called a post graduate course in the most important subject for all Canadians - Canada itself.

  Vincent Massey

  Important, Might, Canada

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  4 Copy quote

• How great a quality is horse sense! Someone has defined it as that something which keeps horses from betting on men!

  Vincent Massey

  Horse, Men, Quality

  Address to the Annual Dinner of the Canadian Press, Toronto, April 18, 1956.

  5 Copy quote

• History is the necessary food of good and noble sentiments. It ought to give us at once humility and confidence in the face of greatness.

  Vincent Massey

  Humility, Greatness, Giving

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  6 Copy quote

• In opening and conquering a country great and wild and rich - a country indeed not yet fully known or conquered - we have still to learn more about ourselves and each other.

  Vincent Massey

  Country, Conquer, Rich

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  4 Copy quote

• We are not born of the passions of war or of the fervours of revolution. And we grew quietly into the realization that, set as we are in a great wide land, with all our differences, there are certain traditions and ideals which we had in common, and which could best be preserved in a distinct society of our own.

  Vincent Massey

  War, Passion, Land

  Address to the Canadian Club of Vancouver, October 14, 1952.

  4 Copy quote

• The neglect of the humanities in present-day education is doubtless not a cause but a symptom of an age.

  Vincent Massey

  Humanity, Age, Causes

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey. Address at the Centenary Dinner of University College, Toronto, October 16, 1953, 1959.

  4 Copy quote

• Old wives' tales are not enough in a day when old wives and old men, too, are constantly moving away from their labours.

  Vincent Massey

  Moving, Men, Wife

  "Speaking Of Canada" by Vincent Massey, 1959.

  7 Copy quote

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