Greil Marcus

Farber had a huge effect on me as a writer. I don't mean I write like him. Farber is, first of all, a great stylist, a great writer. Anyone can read Manny Farber's film criticism, whether that person is a novelist, a poet, another critic, a historian, and learn a lot about writing by reading him. ”

No failure in America, whether of love or money, is ever simple; it is always a kind of betrayal, of a mass of shadowy, shared hopes. ”

There's been a streak of vengeance and carnage in all of Dylan's records except for the Christmas record, since 2001, since 'Love and Theft.' Particularly on 'Modern Times' in 2006. ”

Hearing things like 'Wake Up' by Lora Logic, or the Raincoats' 'In Love' - that was something I wasn't prepared for. I couldn't hear anything that came before it in the music, and I didn't want to. I was absolutely in love with its out-of-nowhereness. ”

I don't think my life itself is very interesting. ”

Sometimes you can listen to a song all your life without hearing it. ”

It is a sure sign that a culture has reached a dead end when it is no longer intrigued by its myths. ”

I never find myself even catching lyrics until something in the sound has taken me captive. Thinking about anything else is just the pleasurable byproduct of wow. ”

When you're writing criticism or thinking critically, to draw a very limited minor conclusion from solid evidence is really not thinking. ”

There's never been a Van Morrison album that I haven't immediately listened to, whether with delight or crushing disappointment. ”