Quotes on Literature

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

Every man is surrounded by a neighborhood of voluntary spies.

We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.

To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.

If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.

The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.

Meaning and reality were not hidden somewhere behind things, they were in them, in all of them.

What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.

Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, a box where sweets compacted lie.

Literature seemed to be everything then. People looked to it for the strength to live, for guidance, for revelation.

Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.

If you're going to binge, literature is definitely the way to do it.

People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

The most essential and fundamental aspect of culture is the study of literature, since this is an education in how to picture and understand human situations.

A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.

Pound's crazy. All poets are.... They have to be. You don't put a poet like Pound in the loony bin.

Why should anybody be interested in some old man who was a failure?

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over.