A Sephardic Jew from the former Ottoman empire

No, not Dani Rodrik, the guest for tomorrow’s Conversations with Tyler chat, rather Elias Canetti.  As prep for Dani at 3:30 tomorrow (live stream), I thought I should read some more Canetti.  Here are a few maxims from his The Secret Heart of the Clock:

At the edge of the abyss he clings to pencils

Curiosity diminishing, he could now start thinking

He reads only for appearances now, but what he writes is real

Newspapers, to help you forget the previous day

His disintegrating knowledge holds him together