If literature survives at all, it is as retreat for those who refuse to assimilate to American mass culture. — Sven Birkerts Copy Share Image
“I just enjoyed Brother Star Sister Moon by Mary Cheatam. What a good one to read with your grandkids! On Audible.” — Mary Cheatam Copy Share Image
It is a good thing to write for the amusement of the public, but it is a far higher and nobler thing… — Mark Twain Copy Share Image
Inspiring passion in children for books, and the world of imagination and creativity fuelled by them, is a fundamental reason for why… — Anthony Browne Copy Share Image
I will get a loan and pay the money the court asks for. But I will not lay down my writing and… — Asne Seierstad Copy Share Image
Mistaken identity, of course, has been the province of much postcolonial fiction. An important feature of this writing is the manner in… — Amitava Kumar Copy Share Image
“If I like a book, I devour it in one sitting, and then I forget a lot. It's fine with me, because… — Francesca Zappia Copy Share Image
Every time I sit down to reread 'War and Peace' - I've read it three times - I feel as though I've… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
I recommend for any basic course on the Beat Generation to familiarize yourself with 'The Idiot,' Prince Myshkin. He was Dostoyevsky's idea… — Allen Ginsberg Copy Share Image
I became a writer not because my father was one - my father made false teeth for a living. I became a… — Richard Rodriguez Copy Share Image
“If Laura was so prolific with poems, and in truth she was, then what was the problem with Megan’s request? Couldn’t Laura,… — L.L. Barkat Copy Share Image
The novels are always morphing into something else now, some kind of hybrid, more of a ground that isn't so easily specified.… — Helen Humphreys Copy Share Image
By the end of the book, it is quite different than the way you thought it would be when you started the… — Jane Jacobs Copy Share Image
“[A]fter all, the position of a reader in a book is very like that occupied by angels in the world, when angels… — Jill Paton Walsh Copy Share Image
Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. Books, the oldest and the best,… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Publishing a book is a great thing, and I'm grateful, but it's also a horrible, exposing thing. Once you've published a book,… — Nick Laird Copy Share Image
The best writing advice I ever got was "Keep moving forward, don't retreat into rewrites." The worst came from a book that… — David B. Coe Copy Share Image
“Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all, love them.” — Ranier Maria Rilke Copy Share Image
Writing chases after the senses, and conveys them in an altered form. When it is done well, the senses come alive in… — Susan Minot Copy Share Image
I'm tired of being considered a lesbian writer, tired of being a science-fiction writer, tired of being a thriller writer. I'm a… — Nicola Griffith Copy Share Image
The only people who think writing is easy are people who don't write. Writing's a difficult, courageous act. Bravery is required, as… — Gillian Roberts Copy Share Image
I think that most creative fiction involves the transformational process, whether it is Dickens or Dostoyevsky and the writer in some sense… — William P. Young Copy Share Image
Writing is one of the few professions in which you can psychoanalyse yourself, get rid of hostilities and frustrations in public, and… — Octavia Butler Copy Share Image
“...it's always your first attempt every time you write, with your only companions being fear and coffee. That's the way it is… — Barry Hannah Copy Share Image
“Penumbra [...] produces another e-reader - it's a Nook. Then another one, a Sony. Another one, marked KOBO. Really? Who has a Kobo?” — Robin Sloan Copy Share Image
Those who want to burn books are either afraid of the ideas contained within the covers or they haven't the courage to… — Tommy Douglas Copy Share Image
With the first novel, I had to tell myself, 'No one is ever going to read it, so you might as well… — Celeste Ng Copy Share Image
“People with Books. What, in 2007, could be more incongruous than that? It makes me want to laugh." [ Afterword ]” — Michael Chabon Copy Share Image
“Libraries are the thin red line between civilization and barbarism." [ Libraries on the Front Lines , ALA interview 2011]” — Neil Gaiman Copy Share Image
I like to escape; I like to write when I go on a walk - I'm kind of very fairy that way.… — Imelda May Copy Share Image
“If I’m unhappy with how female stories are portrayed, then at least I can do something about it. The great thing about… — Elinor Cook Copy Share Image
I have two vintage typewriters. One just about works and the other hasn't a hope in hell, bless it. But they're both… — Matt Roper Copy Share Image
I consider myself a Jewish writer, like all my heroes: Tom Stoppard, David Mamet, Philip Roth, Arthur Miller, Woody Allen. — Patrick Marber Copy Share Image
By the time I wrote 'Any Given Sunday' or 'Bats,' I sort of knew what my job was in terms of what… — John Logan Copy Share Image
“He loves books,’ said Perdita. ‘Yeah. He does. When you’ve finished a book you can put it away and it doesn’t ask… — Jeanette Winterson Copy Share Image
I love reference books, especially collections of memorable quotations, world almanacs, and atlases. Facts to me are like candy or popcorn, small,… — Walter Kirn Copy Share Image
“Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist. It's perfect in its existence. The only… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
If you want to understand what you're thinking, you kind of have to work it through and write it. And the only… — Joan Didion Copy Share Image
Books, too, begin like the week – with a day of rest in memory of their creation. The preface is their Sunday. — Walter Benjamin Copy Share Image
The writing can be its own reward, as you discover more things that you can do. It counts a lot, though, when… — Nick Earls Copy Share Image
![“[A]fter all, the position of a reader in a book is very like that occupied by angels in the world, when angels still had any credibility. Yours is, like theirs, a hovering, gravely attentive presence, observing everything, from whom nothing is concealed, for angels are very bright mirrors. Hearts…” quote by Jill Paton Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c06/jill-paton-walsh-38453_books_a-fter-all-the-position-of-a-reader-in-a_2137626.png)
![“Penumbra [...] produces another e-reader - it's a Nook. Then another one, a Sony. Another one, marked KOBO. Really? Who has a Kobo?” quote by Robin Sloan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ec/robin-sloan-1513_e-readers_penumbra-produces-another-e-reader-it-s_3037855.png)
![“People with Books. What, in 2007, could be more incongruous than that? It makes me want to laugh." [ Afterword ]” quote by Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15f/michael-chabon-627_anachronisms_people-with-books-what-in-2007-could-be_894230.png)
![“Libraries are the thin red line between civilization and barbarism." [ Libraries on the Front Lines , ALA interview 2011]” quote by Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c97/neil-gaiman-29_libraries_libraries-are-the-thin-red-line-between_2634740.jpg)
