WIST

Scratch a cynic and underneath, as often as not, you will find a dead idealist.

Joseph Epstein (b. 1937) American writer
“Our Favorite Cynic,” New Yorker (25 Mar 1996)

For me, writing is foremost a mode of thinking and, when it works well, an act of discovery.

Joseph Epstein (b. 1937) American writer
The Bedford Reader, “Postscript on Process” (ed. Kennedy and Kennedy, 2d ed.) (1985)

Two of the chief ways an essayist can prove interesting are, first, by telling readers things they already know in their hearts but have never been able to formulate for themselves; and, second, by telling them things they do not know and perhaps have never even imagined.

Joseph Epstein (b. 1937) American writer
The Norton Book of Personal Essays, Introducton (1997)
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