Stephen Greenblatt

“Shakespeare’s work is a machine for generating stories.”

“We are all in the end momentary organizations of dust.”

“I began with the desire to speak with the dead.”

“The most important thing is to find a way of talking about the past that isn't stale.”

“The past is not a static, motionless tableau of undisputed facts, but a controversial, mobile, and living substance.”

“My whole life has been about figuring out how to tell a story.”

“Art is the enduring language of the human community.”

“Literature is a way of talking about the world, a way of representing the world.”

“The deepest connection with the past is through the work of art.”

“Wonder is the central pillar of my intellectual life.”

“Something that seems to be a very bad idea in the media can be a very good idea in a book.”