What all great teachers appear to have in common is love of their subject, an obvious satisfaction in rousing this love in their students, and an ability to convince them that what they are being taught is deadly serious Joseph Epstein More Quotes by Joseph Epstein More Quotes From Joseph Epstein Political correctness and so many of the political fashions of the day...could only be perpetrated in adolescent minds: minds, that is, that are trained to search out one thing and one thing only...Only an adolescent would find it worthwhile to devote his or her attention chiefly to the hunting of offenses, the possibility of slights, real and imagined. Joseph Epstein hunting fashion real We do choose how we shall live Joseph Epstein Generalization, especially risky generalization, is one of the chief methods by which knowledge proceeds... Safe generalizations are usually rather boring. Delete that "usually rather." Safe generalizations are quite boring. Joseph Epstein chiefs boring safe The best joke-tellers are those who have the patience to wait for conversation to come around to the point where the jokes in their repertoire have application. Joseph Epstein application waiting conversation What, really, is wanted from a neighborhood? Convenience, certainly, an absence of major aggravation, to be sure. But perhaps mostof all, ideally, what is wanted is a comfortable background, a breathing space of intermission between the intensities of private life and the calculations of public life. Joseph Epstein breathing-space aggravation absence Courage is nine-tenths context. What is courageous in one setting can be foolhardy in another and even cowardly in a third. Joseph Epstein nine bravery courage 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. Joseph Epstein high-standards quality art Culture means, I think, that you have widened your experience enough through reading and through being a little bit thoughtful about these things that it has changed your outlook in some ways. And not necessarily made you a better human being but made you see things. Joseph Epstein thoughtful reading mean Envy is never general, but always very particular - at least envy of the kind one feels strongly. Joseph Epstein envy kind feels I believe it was Gayelord Hauser, the nutritionist, who said, 'You are what you eat,' but if you happen to be an intellectual, you are what you quote. Joseph Epstein intellectual said believe Someone — Cyril Connolly? Ezra Pound? — once said that anything that can be read twice is literature; I would say that anything that bears saying twice is quotable. Joseph Epstein literature pounds bears If geniuses can sometimes make mistakes, cannot the rest of us on occasion be geniuses? Joseph Epstein genius mistake sometimes One serious drawback about letters is that, in order to get them, one must send some out. When it comes to the mail, I feel it is better to receive than to give. Joseph Epstein letters giving order 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. Joseph Epstein soul book people The decisive moment in the defeat of upper class, capital-S, Society may have come when, in newspapers all over the nation, what used to be call the Society page was replaced by the Style section. Joseph Epstein style may class I should prefer to die laughing, and, on more than one occasion, thought I might. Joseph Epstein should might laughing I know from the middle distance I give off the look of being prolific, which is a funny compliment to receive. Joseph Epstein distance giving looks A writer can get into a vast deal of trouble through misquotation. If you ever want to receive lots of mail, I recommend you get a Shakespeare quote wrong in a magazine or newspaper. Joseph Epstein magazines mail want Many moons ago dictionaries of quotations may have been less needed than they are today. In those good/bad old days, people walked around with entire poems and all the Shakespearean soliloquies in their heads. Joseph Epstein moon may people My wife who is non-Jewish regrets it all the time that I can say these terrible things about fellow Jews and she can't. Joseph Epstein atheism regret wife
