Literature Quotes

"Literature preserves truth."

"The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, is that it be interesting."

"A writer who has published as many books as I have published."

"The ideal we all have before us is not to write badly."

"To have a style, you must have something to say."

"The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life."

"The desire to please the reader is a good one."

"The writer's duty is to tell the truth as he sees it."

"The writer is a bridge between God and man."

"The writer serves as the conscience of society."

"A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read."

"The written word can outlive empires and mountains."

"The richest vein in a writer's experience lies in the universal truths."

"Books are humanity in print."

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends."

"The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good—in spite of all the people who say he is very good."

"In books lies the soul of the whole past time."

"Writing is the only way to organize chaos into meaning."

"Literature is the art of lying in a way that reveals truth."

"We write to order the chaos of living, knowing it is futile."

"The writer's task is to say the unsayable about the human condition."

"The novelist must possess an almost supernatural ability to see into human hearts."

"The writer's greatest sin is to bore the reader."

"Publication is the auction of the mind of man."

"A Word is Power, fling it in the Air."

"The difference between the right Word and almost right Word is really a large matter."

"The Poets light but Lamps, previous Fires kindled the Light."

"Publishing, like dressing, should never be done without consulting a Mirror."

"The only obligation to which we may hold a novel without incurring the accusation of being lawless is that it be interesting."

"Verily, the writer is the nearest thing to a god."