Quotes About Literature

Now I'm just loving the world of Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle so much. I really wouldn't want to go back into the world of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling - where would the fun and adventure be in that?

Here's the thing: If you don't want your kids to read a book, fine. You can tell them not to read a book, and maybe they will and maybe they won't. But you can't say what other kids can read.

Books have led some to learning and others to madness.

I ought to at least be able to read literature in French. I went to an enlightened grade school that started us on French in fifth grade, which meant that by the time I graduated high school I had been at it for eight years.

When you're young, you keep reading new writers and you keep changing your mind about how you ought to sound.

It doesn't matter what kind of book you write - you ought to write it well and with some kind of style and elegance.

One of the things that doesn't come up as much as it should, especially in literary fiction, is this idea of faith and God... I feel like those are things that should be wrestled with... because they are such an integral part of our community on every level.

It would be hard to exaggerate Ernest Hemingway's influence over American literature, but his influence on our lives is probably larger still.

The whole world recognizes Russia's cultural achievements. It is impossible to imagine the world culture without Russian culture, without our music and literature.

Wanted to write fiction since I was 11, since I first read 'In Our Time' by Hemingway.

Through my youth, there was imposed on us a culture relentlessly English. English books were all you could buy; English television filled our screens, and in consequence, England seemed to matter in a way that our world didn't.

I have always loved and avidly read the novels of Jack London, Jules Verne and Ernest Hemingway. The characters depicted in their books, who are brave and resourceful people embarking on exciting adventures, definitely shaped my inner self and nourished my love for the outdoors.

I remember daydreaming out in the outfield: I wish I had more time. I want to read 'The Brothers Karamazov.'

Many writers will get a contract by selling chapters and outlines or something like that. I wrote the entire novel, and when it was all finished, I would give it to my agent and say, 'Well, here's a novel; sell it if you can.' And they would do that, and it was good because I never had anyone looking over my shoulder.

The good news is that I've already outlived two Brontes, Keats, and Stephen Crane. The bad news is that I haven't written anything.

I can't keep up with Stephen King's output.

I adore Kate Atkinson, her literary as well as her crime output.

For me, baseball is the most nourishing game outside of literature. They both are re-tellings of human experience.

Overall, I'd say I was an awesome bookseller, but probably not the best book shelver. I loved recommending books and helping people find books.

The 'Backlisted' podcast describes itself as 'giving new life to old books'. In each episode, John Mitchinson and Andy Miller are joined by a guest from the world of books who brings along some overlooked gem to enthuse about.

I do think novels are overlooked. I did write one some years ago that I think is quite good, called 'The End of the Story,' not to blow my own horn.

I love rereading Shakespeare plays and Im constantly finding bits that Ive overlooked or not understood before.

It was in a grim room on Eddy Street that I finally opened 'A Moveable Feast.' I read it all overnight. I read it again the next day.

I can almost always read a new manuscript overnight.