Sanctions make a substantial contribution to power based on privation, and they have never hurt a single despot in the whole history of their use.

To speak of beauty is to enter another and more exalted realm-a realm sufficiently apart from our everyday concerns as to be mentioned only with a certain hesitation. People who are always in praise and pursuit of the beautiful are an embarrassment, like people who make a constant display of their religious faith. Somehow, we feel such things should be kept for our exalted moments, and not paraded in company, or allowed to spill out over dinner.

Being unpopular is never easy; but being unpopular in a good cause is a shield against despair.

Styles may change, details may come and go, but the broad demands of aesthetic judgement are permanent.

The culture of a civilization is the art and literature through which it rises to consciousness of itself and defines its vision of the world.

Modern art was born from a desire to destroy kitsch.

Private property is one of the best institutions which has ever evolved, to protect us from the bullying of others.