Adrienne Clarkson Quotations

Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves.

Sometimes we read or hear too much news that makes us fearful or suspicious of others. We can forget that most of the people that we know, or at least encounter regularly, are decent and friendly.

Our horizon is the creation of a noble society to which, like the medieval builder of those glorious cathedrals, you will have added your conception, your artful piece of stone.

To be complex does not mean to be fragmented. This is the paradox and the genius of our Canadian civilization.

Knowing better than anyone my own shortcomings, I undertake this task with humility and ask you all, as Canadians, to help me.

Like you, I look forward to a second Alberta century.

Yes it is, ... But I need some help.

As I go across the country and privately visit women's shelters and counselling centres, I am appalled that the most vulnerable people in our society are still women.

When you get on the boat that's saving you, don't pull up the ladder behind you

No one is so poor that they cannot give, and no one is so rich that they cannot receive.

Women's hockey, the playing and interest in it is growing, so this was the right time to do it.

Every Remembrance Day he came for tea (and scotch!) and was a vivid reminder of our country's heroism,

At our best, we are in constant search of something beyond, of national dreams and destinies that we reach toward, together.

Stumbling through darkness and racing through light, we have persisted in the creation of a Canadian civilization.

A society like Canada's, with its four centuries of give-and-take, compromise and acceptance, wrong-doing and redress, is basically a forgiving society.

I'm not turning my back on anything, I'm just leaving Ottawa,

I have felt the warmth of your society, the welcome given to anyone who comes to be with you, to share and to understand,

The Clarkson Cup is something that has evolved in the most wonderful and meaningful way,

The initiative, the love and understanding that I have seen in all of you over the past six years are the best reasons for hope, not only for Canadians, but for all human beings,

This is a land of soul, this is a land of commitment, and this is our place, ... Lets never forget that.

This has made me feel even a greater part of your family.

It reflects an intense personal, as well as a national, gratitude for what Ukrainian Canadians have done for freedom in the country of origin of their ancestors and the example they helped set for the world,