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novel quotes

English (10) Français (8)

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“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
“The novel is not the author’s confession; it is an investigation of human life in the trap the world has become.” Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” G. K. Chesterton, Heretics
“It is only a novel . . . or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and...” Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
“We can't behave like people in novels, though, can we?” Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
“The worst of such stories is that the triumphant romancers can always be put to confusion and crushed by the very details in which real life is so rich and which these unhappy and involuntary story-tellers neglect as insignificant trifles.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
“When one writes a novel about grown people, he knows exactly where to stop—that is, with a marriage; but when he writes of juveniles, he must stop where he best can. ” Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Related topics

storytelling stupidity books reading pleasure human nature wit confusion details confession author investigation hero conclusion characters behaviour

Related authors

Jane Austen (2)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1)
Mark Twain (1)
Milan Kundera (1)
G. K. Chesterton (1)
Edith Wharton (1)

Related sources

Northanger Abbey (2)
The Brothers Karamazov (1)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1)
The Age of Innocence (1)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1)
Heretics (1)