Had he learned nothing from all those years of teaching Hawthorne? Through story after story he'd led his boys to consider the folly of obsession with purity - its roots sunk deep in pride, flowering condemnation and violence against others and self.
Tobias WolffOne can imagine a world without essays. It would be a little poorer, of course, like a world without chess, but one could live in it.
Tobias WolffTo be a writer you need to see things as they are, and to see things as they are you need a certain basic innocence.
Tobias Wolff