Michael Dirda

I'm an appreciator. I love all kinds of books, and I want others to love them, too.

— Michael Dirda

None of us, of course, will ever read all the books we'd like, but we can still make a stab at it.

— Michael Dirda

In a single lifetime, roughly from 1865 to 1930, one finds the pioneering and patterning works of modern fantasy, science fiction, children's…

— Michael Dirda

Throughout history the exemplary teacher has never been just an instructor in a subject; he is nearly always its living advertisement.

— Michael Dirda

I think of my own work as part of a decades-long conversation about books and reading with people I will mainly never…

— Michael Dirda

My urge at Christmas time or Hanukkah-time or Kwanzaa-time is that people go to bookstores: that they walk around bookstores and look…

— Michael Dirda

People sometimes think that I bring home all these old books because I'm addicted, that I'm no better than a hoarder with…

— Michael Dirda

Many readers simply can't stomach fantasy. They immediately picture elves with broadswords or mighty-thewed barbarians with battle axes, seeking the bejeweled Coronet…

— Michael Dirda

Basically, I think that most people either make too much money or not enough money. The jobs that are essential and important…

— Michael Dirda

“. . the humanities encourage the development of our own humanity. They are our instruments of self-exploration.”

— Michael Dirda

I once read that there are more biographical works about Napoleon Bonaparte than any other man in history.

— Michael Dirda

When I come to visit my mom - every two or three months - I generally spend five or six hours with…

— Michael Dirda

Summertime, and the reading is easy... Well, maybe not easy, exactly, but July and August are hardly the months to start working…

— Michael Dirda

The only kind of notebook I actively dislike is the steno pad, entirely because of that vertical line down the middle of…

— Michael Dirda

This Is Not a Novel memorializes the treasures and detritus of one man's singularly cultured mind. (...) If you don't know Writer's…

— Michael Dirda

What matters are those ordinary acts of kindness and of love, not vaulting ambition with its attendant hubris and smugness.

— Michael Dirda

Once upon a time, I sat in my mother's lap as she turned the pages of Golden Books, and I gradually learned…

— Michael Dirda

No matter how beautiful the paper, artwork, printing, and binding, I'm seldom drawn to a book unless it's by a writer I…

— Michael Dirda

Close friends, or those in my pay, sometimes call me a literary polymath, while others say that I'm just a shallow dilettante,…

— Michael Dirda

Not all of E. Nesbit's children's books are fantasies, but even the most realistic somehow seem magical. In her holiday world, nobody…

— Michael Dirda

Since I make my living as a literary journalist, not a book scout, I spend inordinate amounts of time either reading or…

— Michael Dirda

In truth, my Anglophilia is fundamentally bookish: I yearn for one of those country house libraries, lined on three walls with mahogany…

— Michael Dirda

I suppose movie theaters are the churches of the modern age, where we gather reverently to worship the tinsel gods of Hollywood.

— Michael Dirda

Mentoring is the last refuge of the older artist. With luck, disciples will keep one's books in print, one's reputation alive.

— Michael Dirda

Best selling authors are always worth listening to, even if you choose to ignore their advice.

— Michael Dirda