All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is grim.
Christopher MorleyRead
There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love.
Interpretation
A true book has a unique essence, much like the feeling of falling in love.
This quote emphasizes the profound and unmistakable connection one feels when encountering a genuine book, similar to the intense emotions of falling in love. It suggests that both experiences evoke strong feelings that are instantly recognized, highlighting the deep emotional impact of literature on our lives.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a book club meeting to spark a discussion about the emotional connections we have with stories.
All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is grim.
Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.
When you sell a man a book, you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life.
Living in a bookshop is like living in a warehouse of explosives. Those shelves are ranked with the most furious combustibles in the world--the brains of men.
Between ourselves, there is no such thing, abstractly, as a 'good' book. A book is 'good' only when it meets some human hunger or refutes some human error.
Fervor is a fire that makes things boil and grow hot, just as fire causes water to boil. It is, properly speaking, charity on fire, and that is what you should have because a Daughter without Charity is like a body without a soul.
When you look at me, when you think of me, I am in paradise.
You lay, a small knuckle on my white bed; lay, that fist like a snail, small and strong at my breast. Your lips are animals; you are fed with love. At first, hunger is not wrong.
Love all Godβs creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal.
When your hands leap towards mine, love, what do they bring me in flight?
I've had some wonderful love affairs and some that didn't work out. I don't want to dwell on that and I don't want to put people down, but I think all the fabulous places I've been, the wonderful things that have happened for me, the great people I've met - that ought to make a story.
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