Rachel Cohen > Quotes

“Baldwin told the story again and again of standing on Broadway and being told by Delaney to look down. Delaney asked him what he saw, and Baldwin said a puddle. Delaney said, 'Look again,' and then Baldwin saw the reflections of the buildings, distorted and radiant in the oil on the puddle. He taught me to see, Baldwin said, and that 'what one cannot or will not see, says something about you.”
― Rachel Cohen, A Chance Meeting : Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists, 1854-1967

“In her rooms, as in ours, people live under great pressure. Time bears down upon us. The world is raging, and we have each of us but a tiny sphere of activity.”
― Rachel Cohen, Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels

“The institution that had the greatest effect on Berenson's education was the Boston public library, the first in the country that allowed people to take books home to read them.”
― Rachel Cohen, Bernard Berenson: A Life in the Picture Trade