Quotes About Literature

It does not follow because many books are written by persons born in America that there exists an American literature. Books which imitate or represent the thoughts and life of Europe do not constitute an American literature. Before such can exist, an original idea must animate this nation and fresh currents of life must call into life fresh thoughts along its shores.

Reading fiction—excerpts from National Book Award finalists, winners of the Pen/O. Henry Prize for short stories, or even Amazon bestsellers—has been shown to enhance theory of mind:

Anna was convinced that the low level of literature and art in Siam was due to the fear that every talented person felt of being impounded into royal service if it became known that he had more than ordinary gifts.

Pulverized by literature,' thought Miss Laburnum. 'The ideal way for a librarian to die.

Puzzavo di libri e di onestà.

Sa zadovoljstvom mislim na Andri?a...i kada bih mogao da kažem u samo jednoj re?i šta me to tera da pobegnem iz Bosne, rekao bih ti: mržnja.

For me, literature is a revolutionary force, it requires courage and risk-taking, it must have the ability to thrust you out of your comfort zone, take you on a dangerous journey, a journey into the unknown, and then bring you back to the centre of yourself.

these books are my good friends

I love books. I really, really love them. There's something special about bringing people and books together

When I was about eight, I decided that the most wonderful thing, next to a human being, was a book.

great gandalfs ghost! if he had a ghost. i doubt it. he was such a snob...

it would seem that whoever did write this book knows you very well. You appear in it, sir. As...as the hero.

Some people are born with words flowing in their veins.

Books become my refuge. Reading keeps me hopeful. I fall in love with small poems, the shorter the better- haiku from Japan, and tiny rhymes by Emily Dickinson.

Books are door-shaped portals carrying me across oceans and centuries, helping me feel less alone.

Where do dreams come from? ...they slink out of books, they lurk in the stacks of libraries. Out of pages turned they rise like the scent of peonies and infect the brain with their promises.

They found the library sadly lacking in texts they could use.

I was a jealous little she-reader; I resented pouring myself into the lives of hero-boys.

Aside from the privilege of actually being white, they had been denied the privilege of freely yielding to depression, of flaunting neurosis as a mark of social and psychic complexity. A privilege that was glorified in the literature of white female suffering and resistance. A privilege Good Negro Girls had been denied by our history of duty, obligation, and discipline

Acting doesn't bring anything to a text. On the contrary, it detracts from it.

I'm as much influenced by Joseph Smith and the Mormons as I am, more so, than by Eliot. Actually, I'm much more influenced by the poetry of the Mormons.

I see myself as traditional even though I know you see my work as experimental. I don't really consider Sterne, Joyce, and Proust experimental either because the tradition of their writing goes back a long way. Traditional. The Grand Tradition. Clear back to "Don Quixote." I never decided to write in a "new way" at all. It's realism that's fairly new. Is it experimental to have been influenced by the Bible? By Saint Augustine?

Leaving behind books is even more beautiful — there are far too many children.

The written word has taught me to listen to the human voice, much as the great unchanging statues have taught me to appreciate bodily motions. On the other hand, but more slowly, life has thrown light for me on the meaning of books.