Except among those whose education has been in the minimalist style, it is understood that hasty moral judgments about people in the past are a form … - Jacques Barzun

...institutional self-reform is rare; the conscience is willing, but the culture is rough.

"The feeble clavichord did not carry far; the harpsichord was only a little stronger; but Cristofori in Italy was working at these defects; he built a machine he called clavicembalo piano e forte — a keyboard instrument to play "soft and loud." Contrary to all experience, we now call it simply "a soft.

A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal as opposed to the conservative, who has both feet firmly planted in his mouth.