Literature Quotes

Books change lives. Authors and readers reflect on the power of the written word.

12844 quotes

G
"The written word is a séance with the dead."
Gérard de Nerval
G
"Words are prisons from which thoughts escape."
Gérard de Nerval
G
"To write is to exorcise demons and summon angels."
Gérard de Nerval
G
"The poet dwells in perpetual exile from ordinary life."
Gérard de Nerval
G
"To write is to engage in a conversation with eternity."
Gérard de Nerval
G
"The poet is a translator of the ineffable."
Gérard de Nerval
V
"The poet's task is to illuminate the invisible."
Victor Leconte de Lisle
S
"A novel is a mirror carried along a main road."
Stendhal
S
"The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say."
Stendhal
S
"I discover that the style which seems most natural to me is that which is most honest."
Stendhal
S
"I believe that, if one is truly to succeed in literature, one must be rather cold-blooded about it."
Stendhal
A
"The pen is mightier than the sword."
Alexandre Dumas, fils
A
"Literature preserves the voice of humanity."
Alexandre Dumas, fils
T
"The purpose of the theater is to reflect society and challenge the soul."
Théophile Gautier
T
"In literature, form is as important as content."
Théophile Gautier
T
"The power of words lies in their ability to transform."
Théophile Gautier
G
"The pen is mightier than the sword, yet it writes with gentle grace."
George Sand
G
"Literature is the immortality we grant to fleeting moments."
Gérard de Nerval
G
"Writers are the unhappiest creatures on earth, for they see everything with clarity."
Guy de Maupassant
G
"Literature preserves the human experience across centuries."
Guy de Maupassant
G
"Words have the power to heal or to wound deeply."
Guy de Maupassant
G
"The written word is immortality in black and white."
Gérard de Nerval
V
"The printed word carries the weight of immortality."
Victor Leconte de Lisle
V
"A writer's pen is his sword and his shield against oblivion."
Victor Leconte de Lisle
V
"The poet speaks truths that prose can never capture."
Victor Leconte de Lisle
V
"The poet's duty is to awaken the sleeping soul of the nation."
Victor Leconte de Lisle
A
"Literature allows us to live a thousand lives before we close our eyes."
Alexandre Dumas, fils
A
"Literature is humanity's conversation with itself across time."
Alexandre Dumas, fils
S
"A novel is a mirror carried along a main road."
Stendhal
S
"Once you understand how to think like a writer, you will never think like anything else."
Stendhal