Clifton Fadiman Quotes

Most popular Clifton Fadiman Quotes

Science fiction is a kind of archaeology of the future. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
Science fiction is a kind of archaeology of the future.
— Clifton Fadiman Introduction to Great Stories of Science Fiction

science fiction

The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech.
— Clifton Fadiman Reader’s Digest

parts of speech

I don't want to be my child's pal, I want to be his father. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
I don't want to be my child's pal, I want to be his father.
— Clifton Fadiman
Ennui, felt on the proper occasions, is a sign of intelligence. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
Ennui, felt on the proper occasions, is a sign of intelligence.
— Clifton Fadiman

boredom

A bottle of wine begs to be shared; I have never met a miserly wine lover. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
A bottle of wine begs to be shared; I have never met a miserly wine lover.
— Clifton Fadiman The Wine Lover’s Daughter: A Memoir

wine

It would seem that in youth we sow our wild oats, in old age our tame anedcotes. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
It would seem that in youth we sow our wild oats, in old age our tame anedcotes.
— Clifton Fadiman The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes

anecdote

To take wine into our mouths is to savor a droplet of the river of human history. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
To take wine into our mouths is to savor a droplet of the river of human history.
— Clifton Fadiman Any Number Can Play

wine

Mr. Faulkner, of course, is interested in making your mind rather than your flesh creep. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
Mr. Faulkner, of course, is interested in making your mind rather than your flesh creep.
— Clifton Fadiman in The New Yorker
For most men, life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
For most men, life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed.
— Clifton Fadiman International Celebrity Register

life

Reading is not an operation performed on something inert but a relationship entered into with another vital being. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
Reading is not an operation performed on something inert but a relationship entered into with another vital being.
— Clifton Fadiman Reading I’ve Liked

reading

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. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
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.
— Clifton Fadiman Any Number Can Play

reading classics re-reading

An ideologue may be defined as a mad intellectual.  He is not interested in ideas, but—almost the exact contrary—in one idea. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
An ideologue may be defined as a mad intellectual.  He is not interested in ideas, but—almost the exact contrary—in one idea.
— Clifton Fadiman Any Number Can Play

ideology

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.
— Clifton Fadiman

Travel

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. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
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.
— Clifton Fadiman Any Number Can Play

cheese

Socrates called himself a midwife of ideas. A great book is often such a midwife, delivering to full existence what has been coiled like an embryo in the dark, silent depths of the brain. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
Socrates called himself a midwife of ideas. A great book is often such a midwife, delivering to full existence what has been coiled like an embryo in the dark, silent depths of the brain.
— Clifton Fadiman The Lifetime Reading Plan

books

What is a sense of humor?  Surely not the ability to understand a joke. It comes rather from a residing feeling of one's own absurdity.  It is the ability to understand a joke, and that the joke is on oneself. - Clifton Fadiman quote.
What is a sense of humor?  Surely not the ability to understand a joke. It comes rather from a residing feeling of one's own absurdity.  It is the ability to understand a joke, and that the joke is on oneself.
— Clifton Fadiman Pain and Possibility: Writing Your Way Through Personal Crisis

sense of humor