Ihab Hassan Quote

We rarely quote nowadays to appeal to authority... though we quote sometimes to display our sapience and erudition. Some authors we quote against. Some we quote not at all, offering them our scrupulous avoidance, and so make them part of our "white mythology." Other authors we constantly invoke, chanting their names in cerebral rituals of propitiation or ancestor worship.

The postmodern turn: essays in postmodern theory and culture (ed. Ohio State Univ Pr, 1987)