VN on sharpening pencils, Pnin:

"With the help of a janitor he screwed into the side of the desk a pencil sharpener—that highly satisfying, highly philosophical implement that goes ticonderoga-ticonderoga, feeding on the yellow finish and sweet wood, and ends up in a kind of soundlessly spinning ethereal void as we all must."

Fairfield Porter on Greek sculpture:

"We all know that the Greeks took for granted the high value they placed on their sculpture. Such an unreasonable conviction of value is contagious, like the attraction exerted by a narcissistic person."

—Paolo Uccello, St. George and the Dragon