Mark Twain quote on poker…

There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker… Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kindhearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a ‘flush’. It is enough to make one ashamed of one’s species. — Mark Twain U.S Author, Humorist, Satirist, Lecturer and writer

First line of Eleanor Hallowell Abbott’s book Molly Make-Believe [1910] (ch. 1)

The morning was as dark and cold as city snow could make it–a dingy whirl at the window; a smoky gust through the fire-place; a shadow black as a bear’s cave under the table. Nothing in all the cavernous room, loomed really warm or familiar except a glass of stale water, and a vapid, half-eaten grape-fruit.

Author: Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
Source: Molly Make-Believe [1910] (ch. 1)

B. F. Skinner quote on Education…

Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten.

B. F. Skinner  American Psychologist and  Author (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990)

Janet Burroway quote on writing a book.

“The sensation of writing a book is the sensation of spinning, blinded by love and daring. It is the sensation of rearing and peering from the bent tip of a grass blade, looking for a route.”

–Janet Burroway author and educator

Lee Gutking quote on being an essayist

“Thinking is an integral part of writing….the essayist–the creative nonfiction writer–must also be a thinker, a critic, and a social commentator… This is the coveted privilege of the essayist…”

Lee Gutkind, author of Many Sleepless Nights