“Who is to say what is normal in a king? Deferred to, agreed with, acquiesced in. Who could flourish on such a daily diet of compliance? To be curbed, stood up to, in a word thwarted, exercises the character, elasticates the spirit, makes it pliant. It is the want of such exercise that makes rulers rigid.”
Alan Bennett, The Madness of George III
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
An ArtsJournal Blog