Modernism Is The Protein Of Our Cultural

On The Whole, Money Does Artists Much More Good Than Harm. The Idea That One Benefits From Cold Water, Crusts And Debt Collectors Is Now Almost Extinct, Like Belief In The Reformatory Power Of Flogging.

In America, Nostalgia For Things Is Apt To Set In Before They Go.

One Gets Tired Of The Role Critics Are Supposed To Have In This Culture: It's Like Being The Piano Player In A Whorehouse; You Don't Have Any Control Over The Action Going On Upstairs.

The Point Of A Library's Existence Is Not Persuasion Or Evangelism, But Knowledge. It Is Irrelevant To The Good Library Whether, As An Institution, It Shares Or Promotes Your Core Values Or Mine, Or The Attorney General's Or Saddam Hussein's. The Library Is Always An Instrument Of Choice, And The Choice Is Always Yours, Not Your Elected Or Designated Leaders.

Indeed, The Idea That Doubt Can Be Heroic, If It Is Locked Into A Structure As Grand As That Of The Paintings Of Cezanne's Old Age, Is One Of The Keys To Our Century. A Touchstone Of Modernity Itself.