In an interview (March 1960) with David Sylvester, edited for broadcasting by the BBC first published in 'Location', Spring 1963; as quoted in Interviews with American Artists, by David Sylvester; Chatto & Windus, London 2001, p. 47
1960's
“We cannot determine whether or not he had met Lenin during their common exile in Switzerland; Mussolini once cryptically remarked: ‘Lenin knew me better than I knew him.”
Source: Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution (1995), p. 37
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Richard Pipes 46
American historian 1923–2018Related quotes
Source: Giovanni Gentile: Philosopher of Fascism, (2001), p. 102
Source: Russia Under The Bolshevik Regime (1994), p. 262
Source: Chronicles: Vol. One (2004), p. 115
“As the plane climbed over the town and swung above the sea I knew how it felt to go into exile.”
Source: Arabian Sands (1959), p. 310.
“The poet is in exile whether he is or he is not.”
Paris Review interview (1986)
Context: I always had this feeling — I’ve heard other Jews say — that when you can’t find any other explanation for Jews, you say, “Well, they are poets.” There are a great many similarities. This is a theme running all through my stuff from the very beginning. The poet is in exile whether he is or he is not. Because of what everybody knows about society’s idea of the artist as a peripheral character and a potential bum. Or troublemaker. Well, the Jews began their career of troublemaking by inventing the God whom Wallace Stevens considers the ultimate poetic idea. And so I always thought of myself as being both in and out of society at the same time. Like the way most artists probably feel in order to survive — you have to at least pretend that you are “seriously” in the world. Or actually perform in it while you know that in your own soul you are not in it at all. You are outside observing it.
“There's a place for him, but he's the final determinant as to whether he achieves that or not.”
On Barack Obama
Interview in The Guardian (2007)
Context: There's a place for him, but he's the final determinant as to whether he achieves that or not. He needs to capture the imagination of a universe hungry for decent thought and passion. All he has to do is be truthful and have a vision for what to do and stop playing a goddamn game of politics. If he does that, he'll get everything he needs.
Regarding Forrest's millitary genius, William T. Sherman w:The Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, by John Allan Wyeth, p.635.