Alfred A. Knopf Quotes

United States, Publisher
September 12, 1892 – August, 12, 1984.

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. The publisher had a reputation for a pursuit of perfection and elegant taste. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in addition to leading American literary trends. It was acquired by Random House in 1960, who was later acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998, and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. The Knopf publishing house is associated with its borzoi colophon, which was designed by co-founder Blanche Knopf in 1925.

Everything we know has its origin in questions. Questions, we might say, are the principal intellectual instruments available to human beings. Then how is it possible that no more than one in one hundred students has ever been exposed to an extended and systematic study of the art and science of question-asking? How come Alan Bloom did not mention this, or E. D. Hirsh, Jr., or so many others who have written books on how to improve our schools? Did they simply fail to notice that the principal intellectual instrument available to human beings is not examined in school?

Alfred A. Knopf
- School
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