Quotes About Literature

They say Alexander the Great slept with 'The Iliad' beneath his pillow. Though I have never led an army, I am a wanderer. During the waning moon, I cradle Homer's 'Odyssey' as if it were the sweet body of a woman.

The day came when she discovered sex, sensuality, and literature; she said, 'I submit! Let my life be henceforth ruled by poetry. Let me reign as the queen of my dreams until I become nothing less than the heroine of God.

Although I love elegant parties, dancing and dining and spending the night with a sweet woman in my arms, my life belongs to literature.

Apollinaire said a poet should be 'of his time.' I say objects of the Digital Age belong in newspapers, not literature. When I read a novel, I don't want credit cards; I want cash in ducats and gold doubloons.

Alexander the Great slept with 'The Iliad' beneath his pillow. Though I've never led an army, I am a wanderer. I cradle 'The Odyssey' nights while the moon is waning, as if it were the sweet body of a woman.

Captain Marryat's

You can probably also call it poetic justice, even though it doesn't rhyme.

I was figuring on dropping in on William Blake this afternoon

Writing that is only about a time is not literature, it is history.

I would read them my essay on Self-Control," Miss Hospice murmured, "if you thought it would have any effect." "It would probably make them infinitely worse. It might even kill them outright. And then it would be murder," Miss Valley said. Miss Hospice smiled sedately.

But why did Sade need so much brutality? Why not simply write hymns of praise to the orgasm, indulging his preference for anal intercourse by implanting similar tastes in his heroes? He was still using literature as a means of unpicking the past, inverting reality.

Man's life is brief and transitory, Literature endures forever

Todos necesitamos la belleza para que la vida nos sea soportable. Lo expresó muy bien Fernando Pessoa: «La literatura, como el arte en general, es la demostración de que la vida no basta.» No basta, no. Por eso estoy redactando este libro. Por eso lo estás leyendo.

El arte en general, y la literatura en particular, son armas poderosas contra el Mal y el Dolor. Las novelas no los vencen (son invencibles), pero nos consuelan del espanto.

La creatividad es justamente esto: un intento alquímico de transmutar el sufrimiento en belleza. El arte en general, y la literatura en particular, son armas poderosas contra el Mal y el Dolor.

Guerra e paz foi escrito no período mais feliz de sua vida.

Os dois gigantes da literatura passariam a vida próximos um ao outro, mas jamais se encontrariam nem pessoal nem ideologicamente.

O ano de 1866 foi uma espécie de annus mirabilis para Mikhail Kátkov, já que nas páginas de sua revista foram publicados, ao mesmo tempo, Guerra e paz e Crime e castigo. Dostoiévski não era o mais fácil dos escritores, mas nessa época era bem mais responsável que Tolstói.

A opinião geral da tia Toinette, de que se deve odiar o adultério, não o adúltero, era essencialmente a visão de Tolstói, e é essa a razão pela qual Anna Kariênina é um dos personagens literários mais instigantes e complexos já criados.

Foi um episódio notável não porque Tolstói tivesse achado a palestra interessante (ele a desdenhou como "uma baboseira infantil"), mas sim porque foi a única vez em que ele e Dostoiévski estiveram fisicamente próximos um do outro

I had to get out of my surroundings the way I used to in prison. There, I had learned to read with a force that resembled insanity. Once free, I found that I could not read just any book. It had gotten so I could see through books--the little ruses, the hooks, the setup in the beginning, the looming weight of a tragic ending, the way at the last page the author could whisk out the carpet of sorrow and restore a favorite character.

Thomas had tried to educate himself, mainly by reading everything he could find. When he needed to calm his mind, he opened a book. Any book. He had never failed to feel refreshed, even if the book was no good.

The Shadow-Line, by Joseph Conrad The All of It, by Jeannette Haien Winter in the Blood, by James Welch Swimmer in the Secret Sea, by William Kotzwinkle The Blue Flower, by Penelope Fitzgerald First Love, by Ivan Turgenev Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf Waiting for the Barbarians, by J. M. Coetzee Fire on the Mountain, by Anita Desai These are books that knock you sideways in around 200 pages. Between

Short Perfect Novels Too Loud a Solitude, by Bohumil Hrabal Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson Sula, by Toni Morrison