One Of The Pleasures Of Being A

I Am Afraid I Am One Of Those People Who Continues To Read In The Hope Of Sometime Discovering In A Book A Single—and Singular—piece Of Wisdom So Penetrating, So Soul Stirring, So Utterly Applicable To My Own Life As To Make All The Bad Books I Have Read Seem Well Worth The Countless Hours Spent On Them. My Guess Is That This Wisdom, If It Ever Arrives, Will Do So In The Form Of A Generalization.

I Have Myself Always Been Terrified Of Plagiarism - Of Being Accused Of It, That Is. Every Writer Is A Thief, Though Some Of Us Are More Clever Than Others At Disguising Our Robberies. The Reason Writers Are Such Slow Readers Is That We Are Ceaselessly Searching For Things We Can Steal And Then Pass Off As Our Own: A Natty Bit Of Syntax, A Seamless Transition, A Metaphor That Jumps To Its Target Like An Arrow Shot From An Aluminum Crossbow.

Courage Is Nine-tenths Context. What Is Courageous In One Setting Can Be Foolhardy In Another And Even Cowardly In A Third.

The Problem For Me Is That Reading Is, I Won't Say A Sacred, But Nevertheless A Pretty Serious Act.

We Who Are Quotatious Are Never Truly Alone, But Always Hear The Cheerful Flow Of Remarks Made By Dead Writers So Much More Intelligent Than We.