Al forms of consensus about ''great'' books and ''perennial'' problems, once stabilized, tend to deteriorate eventually into something philistine. The real life of the mind is always at the frontiers of ''what is already known.'' Those great books don't only…

Quote by Susan Sontag

Topics: Books Quotes

Life is not significant details, illuminated by a flash, fixed forever. Photographs are.

Life is not significant details, illuminated by a flash, fixed forever. Photographs are.

Tamed as it may be, sexuality remains one of the demonic forces in human consciousness...

Tamed as it may be, sexuality remains one of the demonic forces in human consciousness...

Any critic is entitled to wrong judgments, of course. But certain lapses of judgment indicate...

Any critic is entitled to wrong judgments, of course. But certain lapses of judgment indicate...

What pornographic literature does is precisely to drive a wedge between one's existence as a...

What pornographic literature does is precisely to drive a wedge between one's existence as a...

What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in...

What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in...

Perhaps it is our perennial fate to be surprised by the simultaneity of events, by...

Perhaps it is our perennial fate to be surprised by the simultaneity of events, by...

I don't want to express alienation. It isn't what I feel. I'm interested in various...

I don't want to express alienation. It isn't what I feel. I'm interested in various...

Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas.

Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas.

In the final analysis, style is art. And art is nothing more or less than...

In the final analysis, style is art. And art is nothing more or less than...

Most people in this society who aren't actively mad are, at best, reformed or potential...

Most people in this society who aren't actively mad are, at best, reformed or potential...

What pornography is really about, ultimately, isn't sex but death.

What pornography is really about, ultimately, isn't sex but death.

For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of...

For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of...

Cancer patients are lied to, not just because the disease is (or is thought to...

Cancer patients are lied to, not just because the disease is (or is thought to...

AIDS occupies such a large part in our awareness because of what it has been...

AIDS occupies such a large part in our awareness because of what it has been...

Societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to...

Societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to...

Mallarme said that everything in the world exists in order to end in a book....

Mallarme said that everything in the world exists in order to end in a book....

The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.

The only interesting answers are those that destroy the questions.

What is the most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful...

What is the most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful...

The taste for quotations (and for the juxtaposition of incongruous quotations) is a Surrealist taste.

The taste for quotations (and for the juxtaposition of incongruous quotations) is a Surrealist taste.

Lying is an elementary means of self-defense.

Lying is an elementary means of self-defense.