Quotes About Literature

Every book is a great action and every great action is a book!

I am persuaded that without knowledge of literature pure theology cannot at all endure. . . . When letters have declined and lain prostrate, theology, too, has wretchedly fallen and lain prostrate. . . . It is my desire that there shall be as many poets and rhetoricians as possible, because I see that by these studies as by no other means, people are wonderfully fitted for the grasping of sacred truth and for handling it skillfully and happily.

There never yet have been, nor are there now, too many good books.

I will find you another long-forgotten Queen Mab poem in no time. Depend on it. I refuse to let Cody or anyone else know more about English Literature than me. So calm yourself, Elfish, and let an expert take over.

Allmen musste ein Buch, das er einmal angefangen hatte, zu Ende lesen, selbst wenn es noch so schlecht war. Er tat dies nicht aus Respekt dem Autor gegenüber, sondern aus Neugier. Er glaubte, dass jedes Buch ein Geheimnis habe, und sei es auch nur die Antwort auf die Frage, weshalb es geschrieben wurde.

A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.

Leser und Schreiber sind also uneinverstandene Leute. Leute, die sich nicht abgefunden haben. Noch nicht. Hätten sie sich abgefunden, wären sie zufrieden mit sich und allem, würden sie nicht mehr lesen und schreiben, sondern gingen andauernd in die Oper.

The Wind in the Willows Retold from the Kenneth Grahame original by Martin Woodside

I'm a great believer in anything that gets anyone reading

books, teapots, thunderstorms, bridges, street musicians, coming attractions

You don't read for understanding, you read for excitement. Understanding is a product of excitement.

Words are so wonderful to read, so nourishing to the mind. But really! It's just a fantasy. One doesn't eat words! one reads them

Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true.

For the origin of literature at Rome was closely connected with Roman overseas expansion: 'The Muse imposed herself in warlike fashion on the fierce inhabitants of Rome,' as one second-century BCE author described it. The beginning of empire and the beginning of literature were two sides of the same coin.

letters of Cicero

For the origin of literature at Rome was closely connected with Roman overseas expansion: 'The Muse imposed herself in warlike fashion on the fierce inhabitants of Rome,' as one second-century BCE author described it.

Na literatura da Antiguidade, a autoridade da profunda voz masculina, por contraste com a feminina, é constantemente realçada. Tal como um tratado científico da Antiguidade afirma de modo explícito, uma voz grave indica coragem viril, uma voz aguda e feminina, cobardia.

few ancient libraries ever unearthed, in Taormina in Sicily, a combination of advertisement and library catalogue.

Suetonius, in his series of biographies The Twelve Caesars

London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books or the Times Literary Supplement

I concede that a bad romantic novel is embarrassing and indefensible. So is a bad so-called realistic novel. (And it is usually pretentious into the bargain which is insufferable.) But a good romantic novel is a heart-warming thing which strikes a responsive chord in those who are happy and offers a certain lifting of the spirits to those who are not.

To be involved with books is to live at the heart of light.

There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel.

I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same kind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of literature and speech and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear.