The problem for me is that reading is, I won't say a sacred, but nevertheless a pretty serious act.

A writer can get into a vast deal of trouble through misquotation. If you ever want to receive lots of mail, I recommend you get a Shakespeare quote wrong in a magazine or newspaper.

For me writing is foremost a mode of thinking and when it works well, an act of discovery

Courage is nine-tenths context. What is courageous in one setting can be foolhardy in another and even cowardly in a third.

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.

Generalization, especially risky generalization, is one of the chief methods by which knowledge proceeds... Safe generalizations are usually rather boring. Delete that "usually rather." Safe generalizations are quite boring.

That wine drinking is more effete than beer drinking? No question.