“In her book The Writing Life (1989), Annie Dillard tells the story of a fellow writer who was asked by a student, "Do you think I could be a writer?" "'Well,' the writer said, 'do you like sentences?'" The student… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
We in universities are not in the democracy business. What we do, when we're doing it, is teach and learn. — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
“My God, my God, thou art a direct God, may I not say a literal God, a God that wouldst be understood literally and… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
Freedom of speech is not an academic value. Accuracy of speech is an academic value; completeness of speech is an academic value; relevance of… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
“Justification, after all, confers value on an activity from a perspective outside its performance. An activity that cannot be justified is an activity that… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
Belief and knowledge are considered to be two different things. But they are not. — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
A pro-choice advocate sees abortion as a decision to be made in accordance with the best scientific opinion as to when the beginning of… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
Know what makes a sentence more than a random list, practice constructing sentences and explaining what you have done, and you will know how… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
I do not support abortion rights. Although what I would support in this vexed area is not clear to me. — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
Opinion-sharing sessions are like junk food: they fill you up with starch and leave you feeling both sated and hungry. A sustained inquiry into… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
People write or speak sentences in order to produce an effect, and the success of a sentence is measured by the degree to which… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
Many people on the political left found my work psychologically liberating. They began to say: once you realize that standards emerge historically, then you… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
“In his great book How to Do Things with Words (1962), J.L. Austin considers the apparently simple sentence "France is hexagonal." He asks if… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
Any idea can be brought into the classroom if the point is to inquire into its structure, history, influence and so forth. But no… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
It is always incorrect to assume you can know what someone's moral convictions are based on their philosophical theories. — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
It is of no help to us that there is an absolute truth of the matter of things because unfortunately, none of us are… — Stanley Fish Copy Share Image
