Quotes on Literature

The world of literature is a world where there is no reality except that of the human imagination.

It is your business when the wall next door catches fire.

A man's most open actions have a secret side to them.

We can be reluctant to recognize how much of our culture was literary, particularly now that so many of the institutional purveyors of literature happily have joined in proclaiming its death. A substantial number of Americans who believe they worship God actually worship three major literary characters: the Yahweh of the J Writer (earliest author of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers), the Jesus of the Gospel of Mark, and Allah of the Koran.

There is no praise to bear the sort that you put in your pocket.

As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt.

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.

Don't appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood.

A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.

The literature of the inner life is very largely a record of struggle with the inordinate passions of the social self.

Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.

To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence.

A modern fleet of ships does not so much make use of the sea as exploit a highway.

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.

Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.

Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman is always looking for a shoulder to put her head on.

Platitude: an idea (a) that is admitted to be true by everyone, and (b) that is not true.

Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed.

Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be that have tried it.

Is there some principal of nature which states that we never know the quality of what we have until it is gone?