Best-sellerism is the star system of the book world. A "best seller" is a celebrity among books. It is a book known primarily (sometimes exclusively) for its well-knownness.

. . . the messiness of experience, that may be what we mean by life.

A best-seller was a book which somehow sold well because it was selling well.

If our knowledge is, as I believe, only an island in an infinite sea of ignorance, how can we in our short lifetime find satisfaction in exploring our little island? How can we persuade ourselves to be exhilarated by our meager knowledge and yet not be discouraged by the ocean vistas?

We need not be theologians to see that we have shifted responsibility for making the world interesting from God to the newspaperman.

The most important American addition to the World Experience was the simple surprising fact of America. We have helped prepare mankind for all its later surprises.

Throught human history, illusions of knowledge, not ignorance, have proven to be the principal obstacles to discovery