The capacity to be overwhelmed by the beautiful is astonishingly sturdy and survives amidst the harshest distractions.
Susan SontagWe live in a world of copies and we're fascinated when we encounter the originals (in a museum, for instance).
Susan SontagAmerican energy. . . is the energy of violence, of free-floating resentment and anxiety unleashed by chronic cultural dislocations which must be, for the most part, ferociously sublimated. This energy has mainly been sublimated into crude materialism
Susan SontagEnemies are somewhere else, as the fighting is almost always โover there,โ with Islamic fundamentalism now replacing Russian and Chinese communism as the implacable, furtive menace. And โterroristโ is a more flexible word than โcommunist.โ It can unify a larger number of quite different struggles and interests. What this may mean is that the war will be endless---since there will always be some terrorism.
Susan Sontag