“Why write stories? To join the conversation.”

“Someone has to write all those stories: why not me?”

“Every artist joins a conversation that's been going on for generations, even millennia, before he or she joins the scene.”

“Most people are much better at saying things in letters than in conversation, and some people can write artistic, inventive letters, but when they try a poem or story or novel they become pretentious.”

“When asked why he wrote the book, Freed said: In the 1980s, I joined the small group of anthropologists who were writing about the history of their subject. I believed that I could add some balance to American anthropological history, and that the best place to start was with museums—where the story began. The more I delved into the archives, the more I was fascinated. I was hooked.”

“Writing a check separates a commitment from a conversation.”