“In modern societies, the reproduction of custom is no longer understood to be one of the chief purposes of existence, and the ends of life are not thought to be given; they are thought to be discovered or created. Individuals… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
“Modernity is the condition a society reaches when life is no longer conceived as cyclical. In a premodern society, where the purpose of life is understood to be the reproduction of the customs and practices of the group, and where… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
“For Peirce, inquiry is always communal—it is the median of many observations that gives the position of the star—and the last analysis really is… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
If time is a staircase, reality is a Slinky. Decades can be parsed. Television, frequently accused of destabilizing life, is actually what stitches the… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
Basically what you want in any profession - I would say the same thing if I were a lawyer or a doctor - is… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
“In modern societies, the reproduction of custom is no longer understood to be one of the chief purposes of existence, and the ends of… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
One of the functions of literary criticism, or reviewing, generally - and I, most of my reviews actually are not about literature - but… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
You have to have students wanting to take the courses, otherwise you're not going, they're not going to be very effective. — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
“We do not (on Holmes’s reasoning) permit the free expression of ideas because some individual may have the right one. No individual alone can… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
Literature is being taught as though it were only political medicine or political poison-a view that is not only illiberal but illiterate. — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
“[According to Holmes], ‘Every year if not every day we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge. While that… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
It's difficult to get a job and people stay in school longer because they're employed as teaching assistants or instructors by their schools, by… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
Just in higher education alone, more people go to college now, by enormous amounts, than went to college in the '50's and '60's. So… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
Obviously input is helpful to faculty in trying to come up with a curriculum, but ultimately it's the faculty's job to know what students… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
Universities are set up to get people to work together by having them disagree with each other. — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
“What [Peirce] meant was that since nature evolves by chance variation, then the laws of nature must evolve by chance variation as well. Variations… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic. Never, btw, ask that androgynous paper clip anything.… — Louis Menand Copy Share Image
![“[According to Holmes], ‘Every year if not every day we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge. While that experiment is part of our system I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and…” quote by Louis Menand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/656/louis-menand-8583_death_according-to-holmes-every-year-if-not-ev_403601.jpg)
![“What [Peirce] meant was that since nature evolves by chance variation, then the laws of nature must evolve by chance variation as well. Variations that are compatible with survival are reproduced; variations that are incompatible are weeded out. A tiny deviation from the norm in the outcome of a…” quote by Louis Menand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9e5/louis-menand-8583_long-run_what-peirce-meant-was-that-since-nature_505181.jpg)
