“Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.”

“In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.”

“Had I a thousand daughters, by Heaven! I'd as soon have them taught the black art as their alphabet!”

“These studies are the result of my attempt to extract the essence of literature. Literature is either the essential or nothing. I believe that the Evil—an acute form of Evil—which it expresses, has a sovereign value for us. But this concept does not exclude morality: on the contrary, it demands a 'hypermorality.'Literature is communication. Communication requires loyalty. A rigorous morality results from complicity in the knowledge of Evil, which is the basis of intense communication.—Literature and Evil”

“...teaching was the most rigorous form of learning.”

“Nick commenced a monologue explaining the impossibility of such a phenomenon: the subordination of content to the aesthetics of language in Arabic literature, the dominance of panegyrics and eulogies as an art form, etc.”