“That the Op-Ed page is very important in readers' and the nation's perception of the Times, the perception of its editorial positions, and of its implicit editorial positions as expressed by the publisher's choice of people who are given the freedom to write opinion columns.” PeopleWritingImportantChoicesGivenNationsOpinionPositionReaderPerceptionPagesPublishersColumnsEditorialsImplicit Author:Daniel Okrent
“To exclude from positions of trust and command all those below the age of 44 would have kept Jefferson from writing the Declaration of Independence, Washington from commanding the Continental Army, Madison from fathering the Constitution, Hamilton from serving as secretary of the treasury, Clay from being elected speaker of the House and Christopher Columbus from discovering America.” WritingAgeAmericaHousePositionConstitutionArmyIndependenceCommandServingDiscoveringSpeakersSecretaryDeclarationClayDeclaration Of IndependenceTreasuryColumbusMadisonHamiltonContinentalFathering Author:John F. Kennedy
“To string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities, is the basis of the American art, if my position is correct.” IfsWayWritingArtSometimesSeemsTogetherPositionBasesWanderStringsAbsurdityIncongruity Book:The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories Source: The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories
“Close reading of tough-minded writing is still the best, cheapest, and quickest method known for learning to think for yourself... Reading, and rigorous discussion of that reading in a way that obliges you to formulate a position and support it against objections, is an operational definition of education... reading, analysis, and discussion is the way we develop reliable judgment, the principle way we come to penetrate covert movements behind the facade of public appearances.” ThinkingWayWritingStillsReadingBehindsKnownPrinciplesSupportMovementPositionJudgmentToughMethodDefinitionsAppearanceDiscussionAnalysisPenetrateObjectionsFacadeCovertThink For YourselfClose Reading Author:John Taylor Gatto
“I don't like to write from a flat, cold position. You must like what you're doing very much or like the people -- either like them or hate them. You can't be indifferent.” PeopleWritingHatePositionColdFlatsIndifferent Author:Saul Bellow
“The discourse on the Text should itself be nothing other than text, research, textual activity, since the Text is that social space which leaves no language safe, outside, nor any subject of the enunciation in position as judge, master, analyst, confessor, decoder. The theory of the Text can coincide only with a practice of writing.” ShouldWritingLanguageSocialSpacePracticeSubjectsPositionJudgingMastersTheoryActivitySafeResearchDiscourseAnalysts Author:Roland Barthes
“I guess I think I'm writing for people who are smarter than I am, because then I'll be doing something that's worth their time. I'd be very afraid to write from a position where I consciously thought I was smarter than most of my readers.” PeopleThinkingWritingPositionReaderSmarter Author:Susan Sontag
“What really worries me is that those who are in positions of power are not really affected by what we are writing. In the moral dialogue you want to start, you really want to involve the leaders. People ask me: "Why were you so bold as to publish A Man of the People? How did you think the Government was going to take it? You didn't know there was going to be a coup?" I said rather flippantly that nobody was going to read it anyway, so I wasn't likely to be fired from my official position. It's a distressing thought that we cannot engage our leaders in the kind of moral debate we need.” PeopleThinkingKnowsMenWantNeedsWritingKindSaidGovernmentAsksLeaderMoralWorryPositionDebateDialogueAsk MeOfficialsAffectedPublishDistressingCoupsPosition Of Power Book:Conversations with Chinua Achebe Source: Conversations with Chinua Achebe