In trying to justify the humanities, as in trying to live a life, what may turn out to matter most is holding one's nerve.

Depth of understanding involves something which is more than merely a matter of deconstructive alertness; it involves a measure of interpretative charity and at least the beginnings of a wide responsiveness.

Good work, like good talk or any other form of worthwhile human relationship, depends upon being able to assume an extended shared world.

A different voice may be particularly effective in disturbing the existing participants into re-examining matters they had come to take for granted.