Quotes

"The first and second pages were richly, and most learnedly annotated in a neat, legible hand. There were fewer on the third; after that, for the rest of the first poem, there was nothing. Each work was in the same state: the first few pages annotated, the rest in mint condition. 'Thus far into the bowels of the land' each time, and no further."

—C.S. Lewis, On Criticism.

I often find that when I purchase a used copy of one of the great books that the previous owner has liberally underlined his favorite passages, at least for the first few pages. The frequency, however, of these markings decreases drastically during my perusal, until as I near the end of the book I receive the impression that I am the first to ever read these words. Most people, it seems, approach a classic work assuming that it is famous for the memorable lines in it, and thinking that it is their job only to find them. This impression may be reasonably received from some of the popular literature today, but it is not true of the great books.


I hope the quotes on these pages are not often 'quotable', but that instead they provide a reasonable impression of the style and ideas of the author, and an incentive to find out their meaning for yourselves the hard way—by reading the source, which I have tried always to include. Aphorisms I reserve for my Twitter page.

Folly

'Most of the people in the world are fools and the rest are in great danger of contagion.' A humorous mind enables us to accommodate ourselves to their folly—and to our own.

In a way he's right, isn't he? But there comes a moment in everybody's life when he must decide whether he'll live among human beings or not—a fool among fools or a fool alone.

—Thornton Wilder, The Matchmaker, as quoted in Thornton Wilder, Theophilus North, Myra.