As With The Pursuit Of Happiness, The

We Have Learned So Well How To Absorb Novelty That Receptivity Itself Has Turned Into A Kind Of Tradition- "the Tradition Of The New." Yesterdays Avant-garde Experiment Is Today's Chic And Tomorrows Cliche.

Whatever The Intellectual Is Too Certain Of, If He Is Healthily Playful, He Begins To Find Unsatisfactory. The Meaning Of His Intellectual Life Lies Not In The Possession Of Truth But In The Quest For New Uncertainties.

The Nation Seems To Slouch Onward Into Its Uncertain Future Like Some Huge Inarticulate Beast, Too Much Attainted By Wounds And Ailments To Be Robust, But Too Strong And Resourceful To Succumb.

To Be Sick And Helpless Is A Humiliating Experience. Prolonged Illness Also Carries The Hazard Of Narcissistic Self-absorption.

It Is Ironic That The United States Should Have Been Founded By Intellectuals, For Throughout Most Of Our Political History, The Intellectual Has Been For The Most Part Either An Outsider, A Servant Or A Scapegoat.