I always keep a firewall between my own travails and my perception of public-policy issues; otherwise I would retain no credibility as a commentator. – Conrad Black
Private-sector firms are increasingly active in the prison industry and they and the militantly unionized correctional officers, almost all unskilled labor, constantly lead public demands for more criminal statutes and more draconian penalties. – Conrad Black
I’m not a xenophobe – I think immigration is a good thing for most countries – but they transmute the foibles of their native tongues into English in a way that’s difficult to figure out. – Conrad Black
Guerrilla wars, and even more so terrorist assaults, are conducted only by forces with insufficient strength to carry out a real war. – Conrad Black
I do not at all have the mind of a bully… in my mind bullies are intolerant of contrary opinion, domineering and rather cowardly. I would hope that none of those terms could be fairly used in describing me. – Conrad Black
Rupert Murdoch is probably the most successful media proprietor and operator in history. – Conrad Black
There are some people whose opinion I value and respect and it would be very bothersome if I forfeited their respect. But the general public? I’m not preoccupied with the opinions of others. – Conrad Black
No one could seriously dispute that almost all of sub-Saharan Africa, all of North Africa except Morocco, all of the Middle East except Israel and Jordan and most of the oil-rich states, and the entire former British Indian Empire were better governed by Europeans. – Conrad Black
There is no doubt that the second President Bush inherited a very serious terrorist threat, though not such a threat as had been represented by the totalitarian Great Powers, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. – Conrad Black
The U.S. prosecution service is eating at the soul of the American republic. It is an absolute danger to everyone. – Conrad Black
I may have made a mistake in renouncing my Canadian citizenship, which I have never ceased to promise to try to regain. – Conrad Black
At least 80 percent of American prisoners are grossly over-sentenced. The Supreme Court knows this, but shows scant concern for this human side of criminal justice. – Conrad Black
Although his personality is generally quite agreeable, Mr Murdoch has no loyalty to anyone or anything except his company. – Conrad Black
A quest for knowledge is not a war with faith; spirituality is not usually an infelicitous amalgam of superstition and philistinism; and moral relativism, taken outside midfield, leads inexorably both to heresy and to secular wickedness, which are often identical. – Conrad Black
The United States is a proud, determined, hard-working, talented, patriotic nation and people, and it is not over-extended in the manner of empires of the past that took over the lands of others and eventually collapsed under the weight of the over-ambitious hegemon. – Conrad Black
All emphasis in American prisons is on punishment, retribution, and disparagement, and almost none is on rehabilitation. – Conrad Black
From the early Seventies to the mid-Eighties, I approached Rome at a snail’s pace. Having concluded that God existed, I could not seriously entertain the thought of not trying to be in contact with Him. – Conrad Black
