Deborah Davis > Quotes

“When he was very excited, [John Singer] Sargent would rush at his canvas with his brush poised for attack, yelling, 'Demons, demons, demons!' When he was particularly angry or frustrated, he expressed these feelings with 'Damn,' the only curse he allowed himself. He once had the expletive inscribed on a rubber stamp so he could have the satisfaction of pounding it on a piece of paper.”
― Deborah Davis, Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X

“If there was a volcano under their feet, a Vesuvius that could erupt and bury this modern-day Pompeii at any moment, the best thing to do was dance on it. ”
― Deborah Davis, Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X

“Curiously, anatomical reality in art was apparently a horrifying concept to the same men and women who lined up to see bodies at the morgue. ”
― Deborah Davis

“Booker T. also made a point of giving lengthy interviews to journalists because newspaper articles were solid forums for his ideas. “Do you think the time might ever come, that any circumstance might ever arise, by which a black man might become president of the United States?” the Memphis Commercial Appeal asked him point-blank in a conversation about the future of the black man in America. “I should hope so,” was Booker T.’s reply.”
― Deborah Davis, Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation

“Corinthians 11, 14, “doth not even nature itself teach you that, if a man wear his hair long, it is a shame unto him?”
― Deborah Davis, Fabritius and the Goldfinch

“when they summered in Newport, they embraced the simple life.”
― Deborah Davis, Gilded: How Newport Became America's Richest Resort

“Harper Lee had some misgivings about her friend’s condition as well. “Truman is happy,” she told Newsweek. “But, there’s only one thing worse than promises unkept, that’s promises kept,” she cautioned”
― Deborah Davis, Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball