Paul Fussell, on disillusion

"To become disillusioned you must earlier have been illusioned"

Bill Murray, on fame

"The only time [fame] really matters is in the emergency room with your kids"

Anonymous Former Intelligence Officer, on negotiation

"Know what you want - and remember that whatever your bottom line is, there's always another line below that"

Will Wilkinson, on virtue

"Behaving morally in the moment has little to do with sympathy and a lot to do with one's immoral options simply not coming to mind"

Anton Chekhov, on art

"You confuse two things: solving a problem, and stating a problem correctly. It is only the second that is obligatory for the artist"

Curtis White, on free speech

"In the United States, everyone may enjoy freedom of speech so long as it doesn’t matter"

Graham Greene, on inspiration

"Major characters emerge; minor ones may be photographed"

Susan Sontag, on aphorisms

“Aphorisms are rogue ideas”

Andrew Brown, on religion 

"One of the central religious yearnings is for platitudes to be true"

F.V. Lucas, on writing

“Brevity, like clarity, has its limitations. It is not good to feed horses on nothing but oats”