Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by William Gaddis

Quote by William Gaddis

“I see the player piano as the grandfather of the computer, the ancestor of the entire nightmare we live in, the birth of the binary world where there is no option other than yes or no and where there is no refuge.”

Quote by William Gaddis

Create image

Author

William Gaddis
William Gaddis

William Gaddis was an American novelist known for his complex narrative structures and profound philosophical insights. His works often explore the complexities of modern society and the conflicts between individuals and society. Gaddis's style is unique, often using extensive footnotes and references to provide readers with rich background information. more

You May Also Like

“The piano is the social instrument par excellence... drawing-room furniture, a sign of bourgeois prosperity, the most massive of the devices by which the young are tortured in the name of education and the grown-up in the name of entertainment.”

YoungNamesSocialRoomsMusicInstrumentsExcellenceProsperityEntertainmentDrawingPianoMassiveDevicesFurnitureBourgeoisPlaying PianoPiano MusicPiano Playing
Book:Critical Questions: On Music and Letters, Culture and Biography, 1940-1980
Create image

“It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day; the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tendered kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet.”

KindSaidIdeasRichClearTreeSkyFineBrilliantForestsGoldenAbundanceBrownAutumnYellowAssociatesSoberOrangePurpleSereneFrostScarlet
Book:Rip Van Winkle: The legend of Sleepy Hollow and other tales
Create image

“In all works on Natural History, we constantly find details of the marvellous adaptation of animals to their food, their habits, and the localities in which they are found.”

FoundNaturalAnimalHabitDetailsAdaptationMarvellousNatural HistoryLocality
Book:A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro: With an Account of the Native Tribes, and Observations on the Climate, Geology, and Natural History of the Amazon Valley
Create image

“It has been generally the custom of writers on natural history to take the habits and instincts of animals as the fixed point, and to consider their structure and organization as specially adapted to be in accordance with them.”

Has BeensNaturalAnimalHabitOrganizationStructureInstinctFixedCustomsAdaptedNatural History
Book:The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise
Create image