The reason why research is like sculpting from memory is that in neither is there a concrete visible subject to copy directly. The subject - as sculptors themselves are fond of saying - is hidden in the block of material.

Schools are not intended to moralize a wicked world, but to impart knowledge and develop intelligence, with only two social aims in mind: prepare to take on one's share in the world's work, and perhaps in addition, lend a hand in improving society, after schooling is done.

It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence.

Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes.

Art distills sensation and embodies it with enhanced meaning in a memorable form - or else it is not art.

The reason teaching has to go on is that children are not born human; they are made so.

The truth is, when all is said and done, one does not teach a subject, one teaches a student how to learn it.