This man, who for twenty-five years has been reading and writing about art, and in all that time has never understood anything about art, has for twenty-five years been hashing over other people's ideas about realism, naturalism and all that nonsense; for twenty-five years he has been reading and writing about what intelligent people already know and about what stupid people don't want to know--which means that for twenty-five years he's been taking nothing and making nothing out of it. And with it all, what conceit! What pretension!

It is easier to ask of the poor than of the rich.

A tree is beautiful, but what's more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees.

If you cry 'forward', you must without fail make plain in what direction to go.

Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit.

Fine. Since the tea is not forthcoming, let's have a philosophical conversation.

Solomon made a big mistake when he asked for wisdom.