Thursday, December 4, 2025

Quote of the Day (Nick Pinkerton, on ‘Dodgy’ Investing in Films)

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“The [movie] business is, and has always been, a dodgy boondoggle; not for nothing were the old-money WASPs at the East Coast banks reticent...
Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Quote of the Day (Susan Sontag, on ‘The Writer’s First Job’)

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“The writer’s first job is not to have opinions but to tell the truth…and refuse to be an accomplice of lies or misinformation. Literature i...
Tuesday, December 2, 2025

TV Quote of the Day (‘Veep,’ on Executive Branch Overspending)

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Selina Meyer [ played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus ] [berating aide Gary for overspending on a state dinner on her behalf] : “Who do you think yo...
Monday, December 1, 2025

Quote of the Day (Tom Stoppard, on Life, ‘A Gamble’)

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“Life is a gamble, at terrible odds. If it were a bet you wouldn’t take it.” —Czech-born English playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter S...
Sunday, November 30, 2025

Flashback, November 1900: Dreiser’s ‘Sister Carrie’ Released by Half-Hearted Publisher

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When the publishing firm Doubleday, Page released Sister Carrie in November 1900, it was without publicity, reflecting the company’s growin...

TV Quote of the Day (Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, on How ‘The Higher Life of Man is God’)

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“The higher life of man is God. And if man is ever to be lifted up, God in some way must come down to man.”—Venerable Fulton J. Sheen (1895-...
Saturday, November 29, 2025

Quote of the Day (Geoffrey Parker, on the Importance of French Historian Fernand Braudel)

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“ The Mediterranean refashioned the entire framework of history. It showed that geography, climate, and distance—what Emmanuel Le Roy Ladur...