Isaiah Berlin: A Life — 1: Albany

1. 1. Isaiah Berlin's voice is a rapid, nearly incomprehensible blend of Russian and Oxford upper-class diction, which he unconsciously impersonated from Maurice Bowra.
2. 2. Berlin's thinking is indistinguishable from talking; he hates thinking alone and regards it as a monstrosity.
3. 3. Berlin's memory is freakishly fine-grained, effortlessly commanding his past as if he had accumulated everything and lost nothing.
4. 4. Berlin took three conflicting identities—Russian, Jewish, and English—and braided them into a coherent character, suppressing nothing.
5. 5. Berlin's equanimity and liberalism are often attributed to privilege, but he made manifest what others might have thrown away.
6. 6. Berlin wished life would continue indefinitely, unlike his friends who found the idea horrifying.