Quotes About Literature

Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life

This isn't the case with literature. Literature simulates life. A novel is a story of what never was, and a play is a novel without narration. A poem is the expression of ideas or feelings in a language no one uses, because no one talks in verse.

Perhaps it's my destiny to remain a book-keeper for ever and for poetry and literature to remain simply butterflies that alight on my head and merely underline my own ridiculousness by their very beauty.

To write is to forget. Literature is the pleasantest way of ignoring life. Music lulls us, the visual arts enliven us, the performing arts (such as dance and drama) entertain us.

To write is to forget. Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.

los pobres diablos sin más literatura que su propia alma, sin más libros que los de otros, que mueren asfixiados por el hecho de existir sin haber hecho aquel desconocido examen trascendente que los habilitara para vivir.

Ah, che errore doloroso e crasso quel distinguo che i rivoluzionari fanno tra borghesia e popolo, tra aristocrazia e popolo o tra governanti e governati. La vera distinzione risiede tra adattati e disadattati: il resto e letteratura e per di più cattiva letteratura. 176 [1929]

A literatura, como toda a arte, é uma confissão de que a vida não basta.

I reread? A lie! I don't dare reread. I can't reread. What good would it do me to reread? The person in the writing is someone else. I no longer understand a thing…

Escrever é esquecer. A literatura é a maneira mais agradável de ignorar a vida. A música embala, as artes visuais animam, as artes vivas (como a dança e o representar) entretêm

Não é esse o caso da literatura. Essa simula a vida. Um romance é uma história do que nunca foi. (...) Um poema é a expressão de ideias ou de sentimentos em linguagem que ninguém emprega, pois que ninguém fala em verso.

Citesc ca ÅŸi cum m-aÅŸ afla în trecere.Åži tocmai la clasici,la cei calmi,la cei care,dac? sufer?,nu p spun.

Lesen heißt durch fremde Hand träumen.

It seems that civilizations exist only to produce art and literature; words are what speak for them and remain. How do we know that these extra-human figures aren't truly real? It tortures my mind to think this might be the case…

I'm convinced that in a perfect, civilized world there would be no other art but prose.

In general, men weep little and, when they do complain, they make literature out of it.

A melhor maneira de começar a sonhar é mediante livros.

Perhaps the novel is a more perfect life and reality, which God creates through us. Perhaps we live only to create it. It seems that civilization exists only to produce art and literature; words are what speak for it and remain. How do we know that these extra-human figures aren't truly real? It tortures my mind to think this might be the case

I enjoy using words. Or rather: I enjoy making words work.

Todo arte es una forma de literatura, porque consiste en expresar algo. Hay dos formas de expresarlo: hablar y callarse. Las artes que no pertenecen a la literatura son la proyección de un silencio expresivo.

Scrivere è dimenticare. La letteratura è il modo più piacevole di ignorare la vita.

Nunca he podido leer un libro entregándome a él; siempre, a cada paso, el comentario de la inteligencia o de la imaginación me ha interrumpido la secuencia de la propia narrativa. Después de unos minutos, quien escribía era yo, y lo que estaba escrito no estaba en ninguna parte.

La letteratura, come tutta l'arte, è la confessione che la vita non basta.

Literature, which is art married to thought and the immaculate realization of reality, seems to me the goal towards which all human effort should be directed, as long as that effort is truly human and not just a vestige of the animal in us.