Sympathetic everymen

'… writing requires maximum ambition, maximum audacity, and programmatic disobedience.'

'… Fish has stayed true to their core belief in the value of academic professionalism: the value, that is, of refusing to justify the value of what you do.'

'Their view of the world around them is a deeply lonely one.'

'Of course. Money, money. Money is all, and the rest, without money, is nothing. And that is why, instead of stuffing his head with fine maxims that he would have to forget or else beg for bread, when I possess a louis, which isn't often, I take up my stand in front of him. I take the coin out of my pocket. I show it him with admiration. I roll my eyes to heaven. I kiss the louis in front of him. And to make him appreciate still more the importance of the sacred coin, I stammer out the names and point out with my finger all the things you can acquire with it—a child's frock, a nice bonnet, a lovely biscuit. Then I put the coin back into my pocket. I strut about proudly, lift my waistcoat and tap my fob pocket. In this way I make him understand that the state of self-confidence he sees me in comes from the coin in there.'

The rich get richer.

Locke's tract on making commonplace books

'For months I felt that the preceding pages were beyond my abilities, and I now no longer felt equal to my own work.'

'… this awareness of the medium creates a sense of intimacy with the reader.'