Books Quotes by Mason Cooley

Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.

— Mason Cooley

Reading a great book causes jolts and frights.

— Mason Cooley

Literature gives us a memory of lives we did not lead.

— Mason Cooley

Deconstruction glorifies the critic, humiliates the author, and makes the reader wonder why he bothered.

— Mason Cooley

The novel avoids the sublime and seeks out the interesting.

— Mason Cooley

In philosophy, the principles are more interesting than the examples. In literature, the examples are more interesting than the principles.

— Mason Cooley

I read here and there in books, enjoying the examples and ignoring the argument.

— Mason Cooley

Every book teaches a lesson, even if the lesson is only that one has chosen the wrong book.

— Mason Cooley

Death is hacking away at my address book and party lists.

— Mason Cooley

The desire to create literature leads to frights, grunts, and coy looks.

— Mason Cooley

I alternate between reading cook books and reading diet books.

— Mason Cooley

Reading civilized the inner life.

— Mason Cooley

Literature may be false, but it is not trivial.

— Mason Cooley

Lead the reader toward the thought, then stop a little short.

— Mason Cooley

Always leave room for the reader to supply meanings.

— Mason Cooley

I was once in love with books. Now they go their way and I go mine.

— Mason Cooley

Good books do not make people wiser or happier--only more conscious.

— Mason Cooley

Unlike life, when books become meaningless, they are making a point.

— Mason Cooley

I read less and less. I have not forgiven books for their failure to tell me the truth and make me happy.

— Mason Cooley

Outside books, we avoid colorful characters.

— Mason Cooley

Avid readers are enchanted by meaning, which is available chiefly in books.

— Mason Cooley

A great reader seldom recognizes his solitude.

— Mason Cooley

First literature came to refer only to itself, the literary theory.

— Mason Cooley

Modern literature seduces with insults, riddles, and inside stories.

— Mason Cooley

My thought has been shaped by books; my desires by pictures.

— Mason Cooley