More excerpts by Charles Krauthammer. Take a look at “Of Dogs and Men” as an example of the touching, insightful, and thoughtful writing produced by this longtime editorialist.

1. And yet even God cannot match the cruelty of his creation. For every Santorini, there are a hundred massacres of innocents. And that is the work of man, more particularly, the work of politics, of groups of men organized to gain and exercise power.
2. It meant viewing certainty with suspicion and acknowledging, with both regret and resolve, the imperfectability of man, the fallibility of institutions, and the tragic, rather than redemptive, nature of history.
3. But is that not precisely the point? It took a 19th century man, traditional in habit, rational in thought, conservative in temper, to save the 20th century from itself.
4. The catastrophe that awaits everyone from a single false move, wrong turn, fatal encounter. Every life has such a moment. What distinguishes us is whether, and how, we ever come back. (See the lessons in “The Seven Deadly Sins of Happiness”)
5. The human propensity to test the worthiness of a thing by seeing how well it stands up to abuse, the instinct to kick the tires on a used car, is ancient, and if Yeats is to be trusted, occasionally charming habit. It can also be painful.

Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics