Quote #17

He sent me a letter from India, where I think he got a fellowship to spend a year or so. He sent me a letter that read, I've just met a wonderful guru who can read minds. 'I want you to' - Allen had a way of saying 'I want you to do this, I want you to do that' - 'I want you to get him a position in the Philosophy Department.' I wrote back, 'Dear Allen, the members of the Philosophy Department want nothing so little as to have their minds read.'

More from Jacques Barzun

  1. Everybody keeps calling for Excellence - excellence not just in schooling, throughout society. But as soon as somebody or something stands …
  2. Bernard Shaw remains the only model we have of what the citizen of a democracy should be: an informed participant in all things we deem imp…
  3. The need for a body of common knowledge and common reference does not disappear when a society is pluralistic. On the contrary, it grows mo…
  4. I have always been - I think any student of history almost inevitably is - a cheerful pessimist.
  5. The truth is, when all is said and done, one does not teach a subject, one teaches a student how to learn it.
  6. Old age is like learning a new profession. And not one of your own choosing.
  7. My notion about any artist is that we honor him best by reading him, by playing his music, by seeing his plays or by looking at his picture…
  8. Strangers who have seen Shaw face to face are wont to report their surprise at his gentleness and consideration, his willingness to listen …

All Jacques Barzun quotes