Of all my Russian books, The Defense contains and diffuses the greatest "warmth"Mwhich may seem odd seeing how supremely abstract ...chess is supposed to be.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Professors of literature, who for the most part are genteel but mediocre men, can make but a poor defense of their profession, and... the professors of science, who are frequently men of great intelligence but of limited interests and education, feel a politely disguised contempt for it; and thus the study of one of the most pervasive and powerful influences on human life is traduced and neglected.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When Americans look out on the world, they see nothing but dark and menacing strangers who appear to have no sense of rhythm at al...l, nor any respect or affection for white people; and white Americans really do not know what to make of all this, except to increase the defense budget.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
... most Southerners of my parents' era were raised to feel that it wasn't respectable to be rich. We felt that all patriotic Sout...herners had lost everything in defense of the South, and sufficient time hadn't elapsed for respectable rebuilding of financial security in a war- impoverished region.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The surest defense against Evil is extreme individualism, originality of thinking, whimsicality, even--if you will--eccentricity. ...That is, something that can't be feigned, faked, imitated; something even a seasoned imposter couldn't be happy with.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »