Alfred Kazin

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”

“What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.”

“The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.”

“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.”

“History has to be rewritten in every generation, because although the past does not change, the present does; each generation asks new questions of the past.”

“When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished.”

“To be a radical is to be permanently scandalized.”

“The simple-minded always look for something that they can do something else with.”

“The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.”

“I was a writer for hire. I would have written the phone book.”

“The book is the only medium left that hasn't been corrupted by the profane.”

“The greatest story commandment is: Make me care.”

“In an age of enormities, the historian's task is not to be a judge, but to be a witness.”