quotes by Joseph Epstein

"Of all the seven deadly sins, only Envy is no fun at all."
— Joseph Epstein (Envy: The Seven Deadly Sins)

"The reason 'closure' is a cliche is that it is used too often, too imprecisely, and doesn't in any case reflect reality. In reality, such closure in broken friendships and much else in life is rarely achieved; only death brings closure and then not always for those still living."
— Joseph Epstein (Friendship: An Exposé)

"I was recently asked what it takes to become a writer. Three things, I answered: first, one must cultivate incompetence at almost every other form of profitable work. This must be accompanied, second, by a haughty contempt for all the forms of work that one has established that one cannot do. To these two must be joined, third, the nuttiness to believe that other people can be made to care about your opinions and views and be charmed by the way you state them. Incompetence, contempt, lunacy--once you have these in place, you are set to go."
— Joseph Epstein

"'What seems clear to me,' Karl Wertheimer joined in, 'is that Eli Black believes in the myth of the artist. This is a myth that holds that everything must be sacrificed for art. It may not be a foolish myth if one is, say, Michelangelo or Beethoven. But if one is less than that then the myth of the artist is very destructive, sadly so for people who become too closely involved with him.'"
— Joseph Epstein

"We use books like mirrors, gazing into them only to discover ourselves."
— Joseph Epstein

".....We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live."
— Joseph Epstein

"Not everyone strives to be fashionable. I don't, and I believe I succeed."
— Joseph Epstein (Snobbery: The American Version)