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literature quotes

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“it is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.” Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
“The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature to those of us who like to study people is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without hurting anyone and without humiliating himself too much.” Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
“Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry” Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel
“The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Witness also that when we talk about literature, we do so in the present tense. When we speak of the dead, we are not so kind.” John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
“All that Mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of Books. They are the chosen possession of men.” Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History
“DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
“Henrietta was a literary woman, and the great advantage of being a literary woman was that you could go everywhere and do everything.” Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady
“The fault I find with our journalism is that it forces us to take an interest in some fresh triviality or other every day, whereas only three or four books in a lifetime give us anything that is of real importance.” Marcel Proust, Swann's Way
“Literature, so far as it is Literature, is an 'apocalypse of Nature,' a revealing of the 'open secret.'” Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History
“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.” G. K. Chesterton, Heretics
“In the beginning was the Word. Then came the fucking word processor. Then came the thought processor. Then came the death of literature. And so it goes.” Dan Simmons, Hyperion

Related topics

hurting writing reading culture words truth death freedom strength men nature science past woman books present language importance fiction technology

Related authors

Oscar Wilde (2)
Thomas Carlyle (2)
Cassandra Clare (1)
John Green (1)
Ambrose Bierce (1)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
Marcel Proust (1)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Henry James (1)
Dan Simmons (1)

Related sources

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History (2)
Clockwork Angel (1)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
The Fault in Our Stars (1)
The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
The Portrait of a Lady (1)
Heretics (1)
Hyperion (1)
The Devil's Dictionary (1)
Swann's Way (1)