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Guy Davenport Quote

“I am not writing for scholars or fellow critics, but for people who like to read, to look at pictures, and to know things.”

— Guy Davenport

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The difference between the Parthenon and the World Trade Center, between a French wine glass and a German beer mug, between Bach and John Philip Sousa, between Sophocles and Shakespeare, between a bicycle and a horse, though explicable by historical moment, necessity, and destiny, is before all a difference of imagination.

— Guy Davenport

Life

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Imagination is like the drunk man who lost his watch and must get drunk again to find it.

— Guy Davenport

Wisdom

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I was thought to be retarded as a child, and all the evidence indicates that I was.

— Guy Davenport

Wisdom

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There's nothing like being a soldier for confidence or learning your limits or enduring utter humiliation.

— Guy Davenport

Education

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My view, as one who taught it, is that the whole purpose of a literary education should be to tell people that these things exist. I don't think any teacher should try to 'teach an author,' but rather simply describe what the author has written. And this is what I tried to do.

— Guy Davenport

Education

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Art knows neither doctrine nor idea; its nature is to show.

— Guy Davenport

Wisdom

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