In my underachieving college years, I learned the merit of injecting quotes from collectively admired thinkers into essays, particularly if—as was often the case—I’d never read their works. My go-to source was Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922), whose full name is thirteen French syllables longer but was simply Proust to us loitering in café society. I didn’t learn that Proust had an aviator’s soul until finding his words on an airport cocktail napkin: “We are all of us obliged, if we are to make reality endurable, to nurse a few little follies in ourselves.” Profound napkin advice worth deconstructing.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/insider/aero-folies-bergere