Quotes on Literature

Confidence is highly overrated when it comes to creating literature. A writer who is overly confident will not engage in the struggle to get it exactly right on the page - but rather, will assume that she's getting it right without the struggle.

Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.

Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.

The bow cannot always stand bent, nor can human frailty subsist without some lawful recreation.

Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.

Every word she writes is a lie, including "and" and "the."

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.

Some people think literature is high culture and that it should only have a small readership. I don't think so... I have to compete with popular culture, including TV, magazines, movies and video games.

After Nixon resigned in 1974, he engaged in a very aggressive war with history, attempting to wipe out the Watergate stain and memory. Happily, history won, largely because of Nixon's tapes.

I suspect there have been a number of conspiracies that never were described or leaked out. But I suspect none of the magnitude and sweep of Watergate.

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

It's not a slam at you when people are rude, it's a slam at the people they've met before.

I never lecture, not because I am shy or a bad speaker, but simply because I detest the sort of people who go to lectures and don't want to meet them.

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.

Nothing can be done except little by little.

I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.

The world is ruled only by consideration of advantages.

Art is the close scrutiny of reality and therefore I put on the stage only those things that I know happen in our society.

I love writing for young people. It's the literature that was most important to me, the stories that shaped me and informed my own journey as a writer.

Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.

True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.