The American mind, unlike the English, is not formed by books, but, as Carl Sandburg once said to me... by newspapers and the Bible.More Van Wyck Brooks quotes [10/20/2011 11:10:00]

Nothing is so soothing to our self-esteem as to find our bad traits in our forebears. It seems to absolve us.More Van Wyck Brooks quotes [03/29/2018 05:03:36]

Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in gray than in peacock bright.More Van Wyck Brooks quotes [03/29/2018 05:03:36]

A man who has the courage of his platitudes is always a successful man. The instructed man is ashamed to pronounce in an orphic manner what everybody knows, and because he is silent people think he is making fun of them. They like a man who expresses their own superficial thoughts in a manner that appears to be profound. This enables them to feel that they are themselves profound.More Van Wyck Brooks quotes [03/29/2018 05:03:36]

Those of our writers who have possessed a vivid personal talent have been paralyzed by a want of social background.More Van Wyck Brooks quotes [03/29/2018 05:03:36]