Dec
28
2004

quote of the day: alternatives

“Richard Dawkins, Wheen recalls, once pointed out that if an alternative remedy proves to be efficacious — that is to say, if it is shown to have curative properties in rigorous medical trials — then ‘it ceases to be an alternative; it simply becomes medicine.’ In other words, it’s only ‘alternative’ so long as it’s been shown not to be any bloody good. I found it impossible not to apply this helpful observation to other areas of life. Maybe a literary novel is just a novel that doesn’t really work, and an art film merely a film that people don’t want to see…”

- Nick Hornby, in The Polysyllabic Spree

Posted at 1:21 AM in culture, language, quotable

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