"There are companies like Facebook that wield tremendous power over how Americans understand the world. Do they have a social responsibility now? That's the question we're only beginning to ask. Literature still has this power to do things that other forms of media don't have. The process of reading and writing and having arguments about ideas is valuable. I'm afraid it's something we're losing."

“Just like those other black holes from outer space, Hollywood is postmodern to this extent: it has no center, only a spreading dead zone of exhaustion, inertia, and brilliant decay.”

Source : Arthur Kroker, Marilouise Kroker, David Cook (1989). “Panic Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Postmodern Scene”

“My view is that knowing languages is part of the process of becoming a cultured person.”

“Why get rid of Chamberlain to put in Halifax? It's like getting rid of the organ-grinder to put in the monkey.”

“Women, who are a majority of the peoples of the earth, are indispensable to the accumulation of the kind of social capital that is conducive to development, peace, justice and civility.”

“She died chasing greatness and never saw it each time it was in her hand, so she kept seeking it elsewhere, but never understood the work required to get it or to keep it.”

“People ask me how I stay happy and sane: I never google myself.”

“It's just a crazy damned life, that's all ...”

Source : Sara Gruen (2016). “The Sara Gruen Collection: Water for Elephants - At the Water's Edge - Ape House”, p.151, Hachette UK

“Do you wear a diaphragm everywhere you go?' I want to scream, but stop myself because the idea really excites me.”