“I wrote the first generally accepted History of American Art—it is not likely that an alien enemy would devote ten years of his life to such a task.”

Claiming patriotic labour through scholarship · Wartime self-defence statement

• America
• Art
• History

“Smell is the most emotional of all the senses of man, and is able to arouse sentimental as well as intellectual associations more swiftly than any other.”

Arguing scent as a swift path to memory and feeling · Essay on perfume concerts / In Perfume Land

• Emotion
• Memory
• Senses

“Art criticism is to me nothing but a peculiar mania for searching every expression of art, and life as well, for its most individual, perhaps innermost, essence.”

Defining criticism as a hunt for essence · Essay, On the Vanity of Appreciation

• Art
• Criticism
• Understanding