Literature Quotes

But what is after all the happiness of mere power? There is a greater happiness possible than to be lord of heaven and earth; that is the happiness of being truly loved.

A proof of really great art is that it is generally true - it seldom falls into the misapprehensions to which minor art is liable.

I love the way you can fall in love with a piece of literature; how words alone can get your heart doing that.

People like to complain about the state of contemporary literature, but I can only assume they don't read it very widely.

If people would write exactly what I wanted to read I wouldn't feel so compelled to write myself

I'm more influenced by my own interests than anyone else's. Writers have to entertain themselves, or they can't entertain anyone else

A man convinced against his will is not convinced.

But this is neither here nor there why do I mention it? Ask my pen, it governs me, I govern not it.

Men tire themselves in the pursuit of sleep.

A critic is a lug-worm in the liver of literature.

In a way, 'Billy Elliot' was autobiographical. I can't dance, but I think his dancing was me discovering about writing and literature.

Everything I write is designed to be milked to the last drop of revenue.

If I didn't see its place in the Saga when I planned it, I probably wouldn't write it at all.

It's a great thing when you feel that you recognize yourself, deeply and movingly, in a work of literature.

Many journalists seem to believe that we have become little different from our enemies.

The terrorists hide behind Allah.

I do think that part of literature's job is to comment on and participate in the social issues of the time.

I'm proud of what I look like. I'm proud that I look like my mom.

Being attractive and being credible can and do go together.

I was so afraid that the athletes wouldn't talk to me because I'm a woman.

I've always been the only girl in those environments. It's comfortable for me - I prefer it, actually.

And that Michael Irvin would care more about his wardrobe than I would?

I'm proud of being Hispanic.

I'm looking forward to talking to Bill Parcells, too, and to seeing how that marriage with Jerry Jones goes.

A child without an acquaintance of some kind with a classic of literature ... suffers from that impoverishment for the rest of his life. No later intimacy is like that of the first.

I'm not terribly conversant with children's literature in general. I tend to read books for adults, being an adult.

Shakespeare's name, you may depend on it, stands absurdly too high and will go down.

Romances I ne'er read like those I have seen.

If a comparative-literature major had existed at Harvard College for undergraduates I would have surely gone in that direction.

Literature is being taught as though it were only political medicine or political poison-a view that is not only illiberal but illiterate.

I think our sensibility is not modernist anymore, that is, sensibility of people who are interested in art and literature.

Victory puts us on a level with heaven.

Whether we know it or not, we are all in a quest after the Great Companion. All study, all art, all music, all literature, all government, all industry are in essence a search after the Infinite.

It's possible to become so comfortable with one's style and structure that one ceases to grow.

Im always trolling for trivia.

The money can be decent, but I really don't recommend the work-for-hire route as an entry into publishing. Too many things can go wrong.

Neophyte writers tend to believe that there is something magical about ideas and that if they can just get a hold of a good one, then their futures are ensured.

There are lots of unlikable characters in literature. It doesn't mean they're not fascinating.

Only as we give the children the truth about life can we expect any improvement in it.

It's a sort of patronizing idea that literature for children has to feature role models of exemplary behavior. I think not only is that bogus, but it leads to really boring books.

It strikes me as somewhat odd that the people who use God's name most frequently, both in life and in literature, usually don't believe in him.

To write for children at all is an act of faith.

Hindu religious literature, indeed all religious literature, is full of illustrations to prove the truth.

I didn't choose literature. Literature chose me. There was no decision on my side.

I write novels because there is something I don't understand in reality.

Kafka truly illustrates the way the environment oppresses the individual. He shows how the unconscious controls our lives.

I am very interested in what has been called bad taste. I believe the fear of displaying a soi-disant bad taste stops us from venturing into special cultural zones.

Whenever I write, I'm always thinking of the reader.

I was kidnapped by literature at a young age and never wanted to be ransomed.

Literature is not only a mirror; it is a map, a geography of the mind.