Jacques Barzun

“Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred.”

“It is only in the shadows, when some fresh wave, truly original, truly creative, breaks upon the shore, that there will be a rediscovery of the West.”

“By the time I was 9, I had the conviction that everybody in the world was an artist except plumbers or people who delivered groceries.”

“What we ask of a writer in the first place is a unique voice. We ask for the rest later, and we may even pretend that it is only the later things we required -- no personal, individual, induplicable quality, just pure art.”

“I'll read, and then I'll take naps. When I feel sleep coming on, I give in and don't fight it.”

“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.”

“Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.”

“Idealism springs from deep feelings, but feelings are nothing without the formulated idea that keeps them whole.”

“Art distills sensation and embodies it with enhanced meaning in a memorable form - or else it is not art.”

“Music is intended and designed for sentient beings that have hopes and purposes and emotions.”

“A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal as opposed to the conservative, who has both feet firmly planted in his mouth.”

“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game - and do it by watching first some high school or small-town teams.”