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Everyone understood that Latin learning was inseparable from whipping. One educational theorist of the time speculated that the buttocks were created in order to facilitate the learning of Latin.

— Stephen Greenblatt Will in the World (2004)

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More quotes by Stephen Greenblatt

Allusions to "hidden counsels" and "mysterious reasons" are almost always the mark of doctrinal incoherence.

Hamlet in Purgatory (2002)

The pattern of dreaming and deferral and compromise is an altogether familiar one: it is the epitome of a failed life.

The Swerve (2011)

It is extremely dangerous to have a state run by someone who governs by impulse.

Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics (2018)

The quintessential emblem of religion—and the clearest manifestation of the perversity that lies at its core—is the sacrifice of a child by a parent.

The Swerve (2011)

Art always penetrates the particular fissures in one’s psychic life.

The Swerve (2011)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Stephen Greenblatt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.