Printed prose is historically a most peculiar, almost an aberrant way of telling stories, and by far the most inherently anesthetic: It is the only medium of art I can think of which appeals directly to none of our five senses. The oral and folk tradition in narrative made use of verse or live-voice dynamics, embellished by gesture and expression--a kind of rudimentary theater--as do the best raconteurs of all times. Commonly there was musical accompaniment as well: a kind of one-man theater-of-mixed-means.

More history is made by secret handshakes than by battles, bills and proclamations.

History - an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant

Tis e'er the lot of the innocent in the world, to fly to the wolf for succor from the lion.

Every artist joins a conversation that's been going on for generations, even millennia, before he or she joins the scene.

It's easier and sociabler to talk technique than it is to make art.

Nobody knew how to be what they were right.