They're ugly, but those are the facts of life.
Harper LeeRead
As a reader I loathe introductions...Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Introductions can spoil the excitement of discovering a story.
Harper Lee expresses her disdain for introductions in literature, suggesting that they can dampen the reader's enjoyment and curiosity. She believes that a well-crafted story should allow readers to enter without the predetermined notions or spoilers that introductions often provide, thereby enhancing the joy of discovering the narrative on their own terms.
Themes
IntroductionsJoyCuriosityAnticipationReading
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing the role of introductions in a book club meeting.
More from Harper Lee
All quotes →It's better to be silent than to be a fool.
Harper LeeRead
Don’t talk like that, Dill,” said Aunt Alexandra. “It’s not becoming to a child. It’s – cynical.” “I ain’t cynical, Miss Alexandra. Tellin’ the truth’s not cynical, is it?” “The way you tell it, it is.
Harper LeeRead
With him, life was routine; without him, life was unbearable.
Harper LeeRead
He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.
Harper LeeRead
You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't.
Harper LeeRead
Similar quotes
The land of literature is a fairy land to those who view it at a distance, but, like all other landscapes, the charm fades on a nearer approach, and the thorns and briars become visible.
Washington IrvingRead
In an age when other fantastically speedy, widespread media are triumphing, and running the risk of flattening all communication onto a single, homogenous surface, the function of literature is communication between things that are different simply because they are different, not blunting but even sharpening the differences between them, following the true bent of written language.
Italo CalvinoRead
People in my novels always have terrible problems. If they are not terrible, I make them more terrible.
Barbara KingsolverRead
There are now 30-year-old Mexican writers who do great novels in which Mexico isn't even mentioned.
Carlos FuentesRead
All good books have one thing in common - they are truer than if they had really happened.
Ernest HemingwayRead
Readers embrace all kinds of characters as long as they are written with emotional truth.
David LevithanRead