Quotes About Literature

The humanist, who read too much, ate too much. He quoted and burped, and these two complaints were equally repugnant to his neighbor, a self-made aristocrat, Madame Lenoir.

Cada lector es, cuando lee, el propio lector de sí mismo. La obra del escritor no es más que una especie de instrumento óptico ofrecido al lector para permitirle discernir lo que, sin ese libro, no hubiera podido ver en sí mismo.

The reality that must be expressed resides, I now realised, not in the appearance of the subject but in the degree of penetration of that intuition to a depth where that appearance matters little, as symbolised by the sound of the spoon upon the plate, the stiffness of the table-napkin, which were more precious for my spiritual renewal than many humanitarian, patriotic, international conversations. More style, I had heard said in those days, more literature of life.

A book is no mere book anymore than man can be mere man. A book was like an individual man, unmatched and with no cause of existence beyond himself.

novels contained something inexpressibly delicious.

but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit?

Many a man lives a burden to the Earth, but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, imbalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.

He who kills a person kills a reasonable creature, but he who kills a good book destroys reason itself

Spelling is a pain in the neck. I do my best with it, but I figger if a guy has tremendous gifts as a writer, his audience will forgive a few slip-ups in the spelling department.

I want to speak to you about the treasures hidden in books; and about the way we find them, and the way we lose them.

It is a wiser, more generous, more noble thing to remember and point out the perfect words, than to invent poorer ones, wherewith to encumber temporarily the world.

I libri si dividono in due categorie: i libri per adesso e i libri per sempre.

Reading is precisely a conversation with men who are both wiser and more interesting than those we might have occasion to meet ourselves. –

Shakespeare has no heroes. He only has heroines.

There is great literature about imprisonment, . . . about the foot soldier, . . . about the sea -- but not one great work about flying.

Is it good? It ain't Shakespeare, but then, Shakespeare wrote Titus Andronicus , so you tell me.

I thought you liked reading books. I do, but if you only read books because you have to, it becomes much less fun.

I could not personally care less about whether JT Leroy turns out to be fictional or not. I find fictional people writing fiction no more or less objectionable than real people writing fiction, because it's fiction

Sarah Monette, Chris Roberson, Brandon Sanderson, K. J. Bishop and Steph Swainston

But my writing won't ever reflect the diversity that literature in general should be capable of. You need writers whose lives are not like mine for that.

if you're only reading books because you have to, it becomes much less fun.

Be that as it may, if Stephen King or John Grisham really wanted to (and to be clear, I don't suspect they do), they could probably whip up a book comprised entirely of reviews of their own intestinal emanations ("A Bear in the Woods: 25 Years of Squatlogging, 1979-2004")

I'll want to hear,' Samuel said. 'I eat stories like grapes.