Writing about music is like dancing about architecture; it's a really stupid thing to want to do.

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture; it's a really stupid thing to want to do.

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.

Wear the old coat and buy the new book.

Wear the old coat and buy the new book.

Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on read more

Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of read more

Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of an intolerable world, words appear to change very little. State power has become congenitally deaf, which is why --but the editorialists forget it --terrorists are reduced to bombs and hijacking.

We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often read more

We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living.

Some authors should be paid by the quantity NOT written.

Some authors should be paid by the quantity NOT written.

Critics are usually kinder to cheaper movies than to those they perceive to be big Hollywood releases. They cut you read more

Critics are usually kinder to cheaper movies than to those they perceive to be big Hollywood releases. They cut you a lot more slack if you spend less money, which makes no sense.

Unlike other people, our reviewers are powerful because they believe in nothing.

Unlike other people, our reviewers are powerful because they believe in nothing.