All Quotes By Tag: Books

“Writers shouldn’t fear criticism. Instead, they should fear silence. Criticism is healthy. It gets people thinking about your work and, even better, it gets them talking and arguing. But as for silence — it is the greatest killer of writers. So if you hate a book and want to hurt it — don’t talk about it. And if you hate my books — please, for God’s sake, shout it from the hills! ”

“There can be no forced inspiration.”

“The novelist’s happy discovery was to think of substituting for those opaque sections, impenetrable by the human spirit, their equivalent in immaterial sections, things, that is, which the spirit can assimilate to itself. After which it matters not that the actions, the feelings of this new order of creatures appear to us in the guise of truth, since we have made them our own, since it is in ourselves that they are happening, that they are holding in thrall, while we turn over, feverishly, the pages of the book, our quickened breath and staring eyes. And once the novelist has brought us to that state, in which, as in all purely mental states, every emotion is multiplied ten-fold, into which his book comes to disturb us as might a dream, but a dream more lucid, and of a more lasting impression than those which come to us in sleep; why, then, for the space of an hour he sets free within us all the joys and sorrows in the world, a few of which, only, we should have to spend years of our actual life in getting to know, and the keenest, the most intense of which would never have been revealed to us because the slow course of their development stops our perception of them.”

“a true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life.”

“Military people never seem to apologize for killing each other yet novelists feel ashamed for writing some nice inert paper book that is not certain to be read by anybody.”

“Unless their use by readers bring them to life, books are indeed dead things.”

“Words and a book and a belief that the world is words…”

“The library is dangerous—Don’t go in. If you doYou know what will happen.It’s like a pet store or a bakery—Every single time you’ll come out of thereHolding something in your arms.Those novels with their big eyes.And those no-nonsense, all muscleGreyhounds and Dobermans,All non-fiction and business,Cuddly when they’re young,But then the first page is turned.The doughnut scent of it all, knowledge,The aroma of coffee being madeIn all those books, something for everyone,The deli offerings of civilization itself.The library is the book of books,Its concrete and wood and glass coversKeeping within them the very big,Very long story of everything.The library is dangerous, fullOf answers. If you go inside,You may not come outThe same person who went in.”

“When I am dead, I hope it may be said, ‘His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.”

“All novels are sequels; influence is bliss.”

“He saw my confusion and led me a slow, stately march to the library. There were shelves all the way around the room, and every shelf was crowed with books. I had not thought so many books existed.[…] There was a desk, several big leather chairs, a wooden floor covered with faded rugs, and in front of the fireplace a sofa with soft pillows. The shelves stopped several feet short of the ceiling, leaving room for a row of busts of what I imagined must be famous gentlemen. Lamps cast little pools light in the room, and the sound and smell of the fire reminded me of the fires the Kikuyu would make outside theirs huts when they roasted goats.”

“Always maintain a steady eye on what you know is yours for the taking, and plot with all the energy you can muster to reach it.”

“The reoccurring thoughts of leaving are the signs that will let you know it is time to quit and find prosperity somewhere else.”

“People’s judgments, criticisms and power games won’t hit you as hard when your plan is greater than the assault.”

“Life is like a good book; There is bound to be typos and errors in it, but the only ones that noticed them are the critics and haters.”