Quotes from Clifton Fadiman

The man who attracts luck carries with him the magnet of preparation.

For most men, life is a search for the proper Manila envelope in which to get themselves filed.

A man who is careful with his palate is not likely to be careless with his paragraphs.

By the end of high school I was not of course an educated man, but I knew how to try to become one

Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking.

My main recollection is of the work I had to do in order to eat

My son is 7 years old. I am 54. It has taken me a great many years to reach that age. I am more respected in the community, I am stronger, I am more intelligent and I think I am better than he is. I don't want to be a pal, I want to be a father.

When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.

Science fiction is a kind of archaeology of the future.

When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before.

Insomnia is a gross feeder. It will nourish itself on any kind of thinking, including thinking about not thinking.

Cheese — milk's leap toward immortality.

For most men life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed.

When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than was there before.

We prefer to think that the absence of inverted commas guarantees the originality of a thought, whereas it may be merely that the utterer has forgotten its source.

In these circumstances I think we must take the bull by the horns and, making due allowances, quote whenever we feel that the allusion is interesting or helpful or amusing.

A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality.

A good memory is one trained to forget the trivial.

A man who is careful with his palate is not likely to be careless with his paragraphs.

Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality.

Mr. Faulkner, of course, is interested in making your mind rather than your flesh creep.

One's first book, kiss, home run, is always the best.

The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech.

There are two kinds of writers; the great ones who can give you truths, and the lessor ones, who can only give you themselves.