Many scholars forget, it seems to me, that our enjoyment of the great works of literature depends more upon the depth of our sympathy than upon our understanding. The trouble is that very few of their...
A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relis...
The truth is hidden in books.
How the excitement comes upon me to tell it all! In the quest of writing, the heart can speed up with anticipation--as it does, indeed, during the chase itself of whales. I can swear it, having done b...
You can cover a great deal of country in books.
One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.
You are judged more by what you do passively than by what you do actively.
If I have found favor in thy sight, and if it be possible, and if I be meet therefore, shew me then whether there be more to come than is past, or more past than is to come.
I went into a forest into a plain, and the trees took counsel- And said, Come, let us go and make war against the sea that it may depart away before us, and that we may make us more woods. The floods...
Number me the things that are not yet come- gather me together the dross that are scattered abroad- make me the flowers green again that are withered- Open me the places that are closed, and bring me...
Coffee and books are a simple recipe for happiness.
If one thousand of you participate in the murder of one child, then one thousand of you are a thousand times guilty.
Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.
You are that to me, an oasis. You drug me and at the same time you give me strength.
Books wrote our life story, and as they accumulated on our shelves (and on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa, and on top of our refrigerator), they became chapters in it themselves.
You're such a book girl.
No matter how good it is, your book will not sell itself.
Write the ending first and then you'll know before the opening sentence that it's going to be a good book.
Reading is where the magic happens
When I didn't have friends, I had books.