Quotes About Literature

Proust's is a long book, though, water- skiing permitting, you could get through it in the summer recess

She had always been good at duty until she started reading.

I think of literature,' she wrote, 'as a vast country to the far borders of which I am journeying but will never reach. And I have started too late. I will never catch up.

You don't put your life into your books. You find it there.

I think of literature', she wrote, 'as a vast country to the far borders of which I am journeying but cannot possibly reach. And I have started too late. I will never catch up.' Then (an unrelated thought): 'Etiquette may be bad but embarrassment is worse.

To reduce a library to simple architecture, bricks and mortar is a mistake. Similarly, to suggest a library is defined by the books on the shelf is erroneous.

Voiko olla suurempaa iloa kuin törmätä kirjailijaan, jonka teoksesta pitää, ja sitten huomata ettei hän ole kirjoittanut vain yhtä tai kahta kirjaa vaan yli kymmenen?

Who is above literature? You might as well say one was above humanity.

On cherche dans un livre la confirmation de ses propres convictions.

L'attrattiva della letteratura, rifletté, consisteva nella sua indifferenza, nella sua totale mancanza di deferenza. I libri se ne infischiavano di chi li leggeva; se nessuno li apriva, loro stavano bene lo stesso. Un lettore valeva l'altro e lei non faceva eccezione.

Esplodere? disse la regina. Ma era Anita Brookner!. Il giovane, decisamente poco ossequioso, disse che magari la sicurezza l'aveva scambiato per un ordigno. E la regina: Ma certamente. Perché lo è. Un libro è un ordigno per infiammare l'immaginazione.

Leggere vuol dire sottrarsi. Rendersi irreperibili. Sarebbe già diverso» disse Sir Kevin «se come passatempo fosse meno… egoistico». «Egoistico?». «Forse dovrei dire solipsistico». «E allora lo dica». Al che Sir Kevin si lanciò. «Se potessimo veicolare le sue letture per uno scopo più ampio: acculturare il paese, ad esempio, per promuovere la lettura fra i giovani.

Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and as much creatures of the readers imagination as the characters in their books.

Books are wonderful, aren't they? … At the risk of sounding like a piece of steak, they tenderize one. … he concurred again, but had no notion what she was on about.

The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference; there was something undeferring about literature. Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. All readers are equal, herself included. Literature, she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic. . . [reading] was anonymous; it was shared; it was common. Here in these pages and between these covers she could go unrecognised. (from The Uncommon Reader, pg 30-31)

Considero la literatura (...) como un vasto país hacia las fronteras del cual viajo, pero a las que nunca llegaré. Y he empezado demasiado tarde. Nunca me podré poner al día.

A book is a device to ignite the imagination

Presto la regina decise che probabilmente era meglio incontrare gli autori dentro le pagine dei romanzi, creature dell'immaginazione del lettore come i personaggi. Non sembravano neppure grati a chi aveva letto i loro libri; erano loro ad averci fatto la cortesia di scriverli.

I wanted to say that the literature may say that, but that literature doesn't.

I suppose everyone gets written about sooner or later.

think of literature,' she wrote, 'as a vast country to the far borders of which I am journeying but will never reach.

The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something lofty about literature. Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included. Literature, she thought, is a commonwealth; letters a republic.

I listened, rapt and silent, as he conjured from the cold black type the image of a woman of many years past, shivering in the chill predawn light as she waited for the sun to rise.

And since he's written 126 novels and counting, I think that we can safely say Mr. Foster is one hell of an entertainer.