Category Archives: Quotations

Things people said.

Van Gogh in London

Posted on March 27, 2019 by JMN

A new exhibition at Tate Britain, “Van Gogh and Britain,” opens March 27, 2019. This article causes me to think somewhat differently about van Gogh. Of several good illustrations it contains, I chose the painting reproduced here because I’ve never … Continue reading →

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To ‘E’ or Not to ‘E’

Posted on March 27, 2019 by JMN

A silly title, yes. I get pleasure from reflecting on minutiae of language — syntax, spelling, grammar, etymology, what have you. Language is part of “what makes us us,” to borrow Jacinda Ardern’s clarion phrase. It’s worth talking about. If … Continue reading →

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“You Invent Your Own Game”

Posted on March 24, 2019 by JMN

Older artists profiled in this article are achieving belated critical and financial success after laboring in obscurity for much of their careers. In her title the author makes the artists’ ethnicity explicit, providing good context for the categorization, and it’s … Continue reading →

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W. S. Merwin (1927-2019)

Posted on March 24, 2019 by JMN

This tribute to W. S. Merwin is by Dr. A. Hope Jahren, a geobiologist who is author of the memoir “Lab Girl” and a professor at the University of Oslo. My own experience of Merwin has been mostly through his … Continue reading →

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“Aroha, Manaakitanga”

Posted on March 24, 2019 by JMN

Masha Gessen’s article is unusually affecting for me at a time when I feel enervated by tinyness in my own country. The article is a sensible and sensitive appreciation of conduct that betokens great — I would say towering — … Continue reading →

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“Ars longa, vittles brevis”

Posted on March 24, 2019 by JMN

  “My goal is to keep drawing forever, to get to all the restaurants in New York,” [John Donohue] said. It’s a silly goal, perhaps, but what goal isn’t? It’s cheap, it gets him outside (as opposed to eating in … Continue reading →

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Embrace-Aversive

Posted on March 21, 2019 by JMN

Do I love this painting? Love is not a word I would use to describe my regard for Warhol, which is high. He and his art are too trouble-makingly elusive and embrace-aversive for that. But this is true of some … Continue reading →

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“That’s not quite right”: Sociodicy

Posted on March 21, 2019 by JMN

How a target of students’ ire came to write a book about humanity’s transcendent goodness. To accept this belief that human beings are evil or violent or selfish or overly tribal is a kind of moral and intellectual laziness,” [Nicholas … Continue reading →

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“Something You Did in Latin”

Posted on March 21, 2019 by JMN

Carol Gilligan is the author of “In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development,” published in 1982. The widely disseminated book “made her an academic celebrity.” She and Naomi Snider have recently co-authored “Why Does Patriarchy Persist?” The quotations … Continue reading →

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Overseas Research

Posted on March 20, 2019 by JMN

There’s a fun flub in the paragraph quoted below. A spellchecker would not have caught it, of course. Syntax-monitoring software might have. I’m not sure software that capable exists, however. It’s a reminder that good journalism is produced by humans. … Continue reading →

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