There are many occasions in literature in which telling is far more effective than showing.

- Francine Prose

You aim for what you want and if you don't get it, you don't get it, but if you don't aim, you don't get anything.

- Francine Prose

With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up. But in fact it’s essential to slow down and read every word. Because one impo…

- Francine Prose

If we want to write, it makes sense to read—and to read like a writer. If we wanted to grow roses, we would want to visit rose gardens and try to see…

- Francine Prose

We never believe we're beautiful, no matter how many times we hear it. We never believe it until someone says it in the right way.

- Francine Prose

All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.

- Francine Prose

People see everything through the lens of their obsessions.

- Francine Prose

I’ve always found that the better the book I’m reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become…

- Francine Prose

Too often students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class—or worse, some kind of self-help manual. …

- Francine Prose