“There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past. As I learned later from the delightful little book of the Abbé de Bucquoy, there are also visions of books as yet unwritten.” PeopleLittlesBookMomentsPastKnownVisionMagicProduceIntenseExcitementDelightfulFatigueMotorInvolvingUnwrittenMagic Moments Book:Name of the Rose Source: Name of the Rose
“I have visited many countries, and have been in cities without number, yet never did I enter a town which could not produce ten or twelve little great men; all fancying themselves known to the rest of the world, and complimenting each other upon their extensive reputation.” MenWorldLittlesHas BeensCountryNumbersCitiesKnownProduceTenTownsReputationGreat MenComplimentTwelve Book:The citizen of the world Source: The citizen of the world
“The last publicized center of American writing was Manhattan. Its writers became known as the New York Intellectuals. With important connections to publishing, and universities, with access to the major book reviews, they were able to pose as the vanguard of American culture when they were so obsessed with the two Joes--McCarthy and Stalin--that they were to produce only two artists, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, who left town.” WritingArtTwoImportantBookAbleLastsArtistCultureLiteraturePoliticsLeftKnownNew YorkProduceMajorsConnectionsTownsUniversityAccessObsessedReviewsPublishingAmerican CultureManhattanPhilipVanguardBook ReviewJoe Mccarthy Book:God made Alaska for the Indians: selected essays Source: God made Alaska for the Indians: selected essays
“The producer beating a new path for himself through the wilderness is going to do the thing 'differently,' of course. But after a while, he looks about him. The territory is unfamiliar, the forest ahead forbidding. Just how 'different' dare he be? He looks at his resources, and then at the established successes of the past. He suddenly realizes he must play safe, be sure. The unknown is a gamble; the known isn't-at least comparatively. The safest plan, obviously, is to follow the trailblazers. So he produces an imitation of one of the current successes. Usually it is a mediocre imitation.” LooksDifferentPlayPastCoursesRealizingKnownPathPlansProduceSafeResourcesCurrentsDareForestsProducersWildernessTerritoryImitationMediocreGambleUnfamiliarNew PathsTrailblazersPlay Safe Author:Irving Thalberg
“The American middle class, it seems to me, is looking to politicians now to satisfy a pretty basic - and urgent - level of need. Yet people in the upper middle class - with their excellent health benefits, schools, salaries, retirement plans, nannies and private afterschool programs - have journeyed so far from that level of need that, it often seems to me, they literally cannot hear what resonates with the middle class. That creates a problematic blind spot for those who write, edit or produce what comes to be known about our politicians and their policies.” PeopleNeedsWritingSeemsSchoolLevelsKnownClassPlansMiddlePolicyProducePoliticianBenefitsProgramBlindSpotsExcellentMiddle ClassRetirementUrgentSalaryEditsNanniesBlind SpotsHealth BenefitsUpper Middle Class Author:Judith Warner
“Marketers have long known that a name can make all the difference when you're trying to move the merch. The kiwifruit was once the Chinese gooseberry, after all - at least until the produce peddlers wised up - and the Chilean sea bass was once the singularly unappetizing Patagonian toothfish.” TryingLongMovingNamesDifferencesKnownSeaProduceChineseBassMarketersPeddlerChileans Author:Jeffrey Kluger