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Quote by Joseph Epstein

“High standards generally -- about workmanship and creation of objects, about what is owed in friendship, about the quality of art and much else -- far from being snobbish, are required to maintain decency in life.”

Quote by Joseph Epstein

Work

Snobbery: The American Version

This book delves into the nuances of snobbery as it manifests in the United States, examining its cultural, social, and historical contexts. more

Author

Joseph Epstein
Joseph Epstein

Joseph Epstein is an American writer born on January 9, 1937. Known for his unique sense of humor and profound insight, Epstein's works span literary criticism, short stories, and essays. His writing style has been widely appreciated by readers, particularly in the field of literary criticism. more

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“I was recently asked what it takes to become a writer. Three things, I answered: first, one must cultivate incompetence at almost every other form of profitable work. This must be accompanied, second, by a haughty contempt for all the forms of work that one has established one cannot do. To these two must be joined, third, the nuttiness to believe that other people can be made to care about your opinions and views and be charmed by the way you state them. Incompetence, contempt, lunacy—once you have these in place, you are set to go.”

“I am afraid I am one of those people who continues to read in the hope of sometime discovering in a book a single—and singular—piece of wisdom so penetrating, so soul stirring, so utterly applicable to my own life as to make all the bad books I have read seem well worth the countless hours spent on them. My guess is that this wisdom, if it ever arrives, will do so in the form of a generalization.”