List of Russell Lynes Quotes

Improvisation Was The Blood And Bone Of Jazz, And In The Classic, New Orleans Jazz It Was Collective Improvisation In Which Each Performer, Seemingly Going His Own Melodic Way, Played In Harmony, Dissonance, Or Counterpoint With The Improvisations Of His Colleagues. Quite Unlike Ragtime, Which Was Written Down In Many Cases By Its Composers And Could Be Repeated Note For Note (if Not Expression For Expression) By Others, Jazz Was A Performer's Not A Composer's Art.

The Art Snob Can Be Recognized In The Home By The Quick Look He Gives The Pictures On Your Walls, Quick But Penetrating, As Though He Were Undressing Them. This Is Followed Either By Complete And Pained Silence Or A Comment Such As 'that's Really A Very Pleasant Little Water Color You Have There.

The Art Snob Will Stand Back From A Picture At Some Distance, His Head Cocked Slightly To One Side

What We Are Headed For Is A Sort Of Social Structure In Which The Highbrows Are The Elite, The Middlebrows Are The Bourgeoisie And The Lowbrows Are Hoi Polloi.

And I Thought I Had Problems? Look At Your Face!

There Is A Distinction To Be Drawn Between True Collectors And Accumulators. Collectors Are Discriminating; Accumulators Act At Random. The Collyer Brothers, Who Died Among The Tons Of Newspapers And Trash With Which They Filled Every Cubic Foot Of Their House So That They Could Scarcely Move, Were A Classic Example Of Accumulators, But There Are Many Of Us Whose Houses Are Filled With All Manner Of Things That We "can't Bear To Throw Away.

The Bungalow Had More To Do With How Americans Live Today Than Any Other Building That Has Gone Remotely By The Name Of Architecture In Our History.

The Shaping Of Taste Is Essentially The Science Of Merchandising, Whether Of Detergents Or Cars Or Books Or Objects Of Fine And Decorative Art.

For All Its Flexibility, Television Is More A Mirror Of Taste Than A Shaper Of It.

In My Estimation, The Only Thing That Is More To Be Guarded Against Than Bad Taste Is Good Taste.

Ragtime Was A Fanfare For The 20th Century.

A Truly Appreciative Child Will Break, Lose, Spoil, Or Fondle To Death Any Really Successful Gift Within A Matter Of Minutes.