Canadian Quotes

“You can be a French Canadian or an English Canadian but not a Canadian. We know how to live without an identity and this is one of our marvellous resources.”

“There has never been a war of Canadian origin nor for a Canadian cause.”

“Canadians are generally indistinguishable from Americans and the surest way of telling the two apart is to make the observation to a Canadian.”

“It has been our experience that American houses insist on very comprehensive editing; that English houses as a rule require little or none and are inclined to go along with the author's script almost without query. The Canadian practice is just what you would expect--a middle-of-the-road course. We think the Americans edit too heavily and interfere with the author's rights. We think that the English publishers don't take enough editorial responsibility. Naturally, then, we consider our editing to be just about perfect. There's no doubt about it, we Canadians are a superior breed! (in a letter to author Margaret Laurence, dated May, 1960)”

“Actually when it comes to knocking the Canadian cultural scene nobody outdoes Canadians myself included. We are veritable masters of self-deprecation.”

“[C]ritics of Canadian securities regulators sometimes point out that a number of high-profile US securities cases have resulted in prison sentences for the offenders, while incarceration for Canadian securities law violators seems very rare...[A]s has often been noted, incarceration is far more frequent in the United States for crimes of all kinds, yet it is not usually suggested that this is proof that the United States is generally a safer place to live than Canada.”

“We French-Canadians belong to one country Canada: Canada is for us the whole world: but the English-Canadians have two countries one here and one across the sea.”

“Beneath their work the moral core of Canadian nationhood is found in the fact that Canada is a monarchy and in the nature of monarchial allegiance. As America is united at bottom by the covenant Canada is united at the top by allegiance. Because Canada is a nation founded on allegiance and not on compact there is no pressure for uniformity there is no Canadian way of life. Any one French Irish Ukrainian or Eskimo can be a subject of the Queen and a citizen of Canada without in any way changing or ceasing to be himself.”

“The zombies were like Canadians, in that they looked enough like real people at first, to fool you.”

“What are these guys?" He whispered"Canadians," Percy said. Frank leaned away from him. "Excuse me?""Uh, no offense," Percy said. "That's what Annabeth called them when I fought them before. She said they live in the north, in Canada.""Yeah, well," Frank grumbled, "we're in Canada. I'm Canadian. But I've never seen those things before.”