All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Michel De MontaigneRead
All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me.
Interpretation
The author is profoundly connected to their written work, with each reflecting the essence of the other.
This quote by Michel De Montaigne suggests that a writer's identity and existence are deeply intertwined with their literary work. Montaigne implies that through his book, the world understands him, and conversely, his book is a manifestation of his own self. This connection highlights the enduring power of literature as a medium for self-expression and understanding.
In practice
In a literary analysis discussion, one might say, 'As Montaigne said, 'All the world knows me in my book,' emphasizing the connection between authors and their works.
All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Pythagoras used to say that life resembles the Olympic Games: a few people strain their muscles to carry off a prize; others bring trinkets to sell to the crowd for gain; and some there are, and not the worst, who seek no other profit than to look at the show and see how and why everything is done; spectators of the life of other people in order to judge and regulate their own.
There is not much less vexation in the government of a private family than in the managing of an entire state.
Those who have compared our life to a dream were right... we were sleeping wake, and waking sleep.
Such as are in immediate fear of a losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas such as are actually poor, slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk.
I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.
We all fear loneliness, madness, dying. Shakespeare and Walt Whitman, Leopardi and Hart Crane will not cure those fears. And yet these poets bring us fire and light.
Here was a woman about the year 1800 writing without hate, without bitterness, without fear, without protest, without preaching. That was how Shakespeare wrote, I thought, looking at Antony and Cleopatra; and when people compare Shakespeare and Jane Austen, they may mean that the minds of both had consumed all impediments; and for that reason we do not know Jane Austen and we do not know Shakespeare, and for that reason Jane Austen pervades every word that she wrote, and so does Shakespeare.
Every good book should be entertaining. A good book will be more; it must not be less. Entertainment…is like a qualifying examination. If a fiction can’t provide that, we may be excused from inquiring into its higher qualities.
I have never known a novel that was good enough to be good in spite of its being adapted to the author's political views.
All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.
Literature exists so that where one man has lived finely ten thousand may afterward live finely
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