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Literature quotes

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“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” - 1841

“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” - 1961

“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” - 1906

“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” - 1890

“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” - 1881

“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” - 2012

“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” - 1913

“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” - 1895

“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” - 1841

Related topics

writing culture men death truth past words language fiction reading freedom woman conservation books nature hurting present importance mankind journalism

Related authors

Oscar Wilde (2)
Thomas Carlyle (2)
John Green (1)
Henry James (1)
Ambrose Bierce (1)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Marcel Proust (1)

Related sources

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