It is a truth universally acknowledged that M. Dirda is a sucker for anything bookish in the way of artwork. — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Best selling authors are always worth listening to, even if you choose to ignore their advice. — Michael Dirda Advice Copy Share Image
Some travelers collect souvenirs, postcards, or bumper stickers; I bring home a pencil from the various places I visit. — Michael Dirda Home Copy Share Image
“While I love most, not to say all, of James Thurber’s cartoons, there are a handful that seem especially” — Michael Dirda Cartoons Copy Share Image
Like most people, I find watching the lazy and quiet underwater realm of a big aquarium exceptionally calming. — Michael Dirda Aquarium Copy Share Image
Neither my mom nor my dad ever bought me any comic books. Certainly not for Christmas. I suspect that doing so would… — Michael Dirda Books Copy Share Image
I'm an appreciator. I love all kinds of books, and I want others to love them, too. — Michael Dirda Book Copy Share Image
I sometimes lie awake at night and try to imagine what would be the best period in history to spend one's seventy-odd… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
In 1911, Edgar Rice Burroughs, having failed at everything else, decided to write a novel. He was then in his mid-thirties, married… — Michael Dirda Books Copy Share Image
When I was a boy in the late 1950s, the public library refused to stock books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. They were… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Because of Kipling, I've sometimes wondered about keeping a mongoose about the house. But given the cobra population in Silver Spring, Maryland… — Michael Dirda Cobra Copy Share Image
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 Book Copy Share Image
Basically, I think that most people either make too much money or not enough money. The jobs that are essential and important… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Digital texts are all well and good, but books on shelves are a presence in your life. As such, they become a… — Michael Dirda Books Copy Share Image
“The patient accretion of knowledge, the focusing of all one's energies on some problem in history or science, the dogged pursuit of… — Michael Dirda Excellence Copy Share Image
In my younger days, I used to visit record shops and covet boxed sets of Beethoven symphonies, Wagner operas, Bach cantatas, Mozart… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
For years, I meant to read 'Arabian Sands', Wilfred Thesiger's account of two punishing camel journeys during the late 1940s across Southern… — Michael Dirda Books Copy Share Image
“I like first editions, though I’ll sometimes settle for a later printing if it’s within a year or two of the book’s… — Michael Dirda Books Copy Share Image
[Kurt] Vonnegut was a writer whose great gift was that he always seemed to be talking directly to you. He wasn't writing,… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
“and yet the original Writers at Work volumes, especially the first three, possessed a magic all their own. As a teenager, I… — Michael Dirda Life Copy Share Image
I have now and again tried to imagine the perfect environment, the ideal conditions for reading: A worn leather armchair on a… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Once we know the plot and its surprises, we can appreciate a book's artistry without the usual confusion and sap flow of… — Michael Dirda Action Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Alive Copy Share Image
I once read that there are more biographical works about Napoleon Bonaparte than any other man in history. — Michael Dirda History Copy Share Image
I long ago ran out of bookshelf space and so, like a museum with its art, simply rotate my books from the… — Michael Dirda Art Copy Share Image
Any man's death diminishes us, but when an artist passes away, we lose not just an island but an entire archipelago. — Michael Dirda Art Copy Share Image
Since I make my living as a literary journalist, not a book scout, I spend inordinate amounts of time either reading or… — Michael Dirda Book Copy Share Image
The goal of a just society should be to provide satisfying work with a living wage to all its citizens. — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
I think the essence of [Kurt] Vonnegut's humanism lay in his emphasis on human kindness as, so to speak, our saving grace. — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Books can be a source of solace, but I see them mainly as a source of pleasure, personal as well as esthetic. — Michael Dirda Books Copy Share Image
The world is a library of strange and wonderful books, and sometimes we just need to go prowling through the stacks. — Michael Dirda Book Copy Share Image
My wife tells me I should check out 'Downton Abbey', but I gather that series might be almost too intense for my… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Near my desk, I keep a large plastic carton filled with fresh notebooks and stationery of various kinds, sizes, and qualities. — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Most scholarly books we read for the information or insight they contain. But some we return to simply for the pleasure of… — Michael Dirda Books Copy Share Image
'The Admirable Crichton' is probably Barrie's most famous work after 'Peter Pan', nearly a pendant to that classic. — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
With concerted effort, I can follow written instructions, but don't ask me to simply grasp how to operate a smartphone. — Michael Dirda Effort Copy Share Image
I am shocked that we seemed to have learned nothing, absolutely nothing, from Vietnam. — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
Throughout history the exemplary teacher has never been just an instructor in a subject; he is nearly always its living advertisement. — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
In my own case, my folks didn't actually object to comics, as many parents did, but they pretty much felt the things… — Michael Dirda Copy Share Image
![“[Kurt] Vonnegut was a writer whose great gift was that he always seemed to be talking directly to you. He wasn't writing, he wasn't showing off, he was just telling you, nobody else, what it was like, what it was all about. That intimacy made him beloved. We can admire the art of John Updike or…” quote by Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/beb/michael-dirda-3414_admire_kurt-vonnegut-was-a-writer-whose-great-g_2525625.jpg)
![“I think the essence of [Kurt] Vonnegut's humanism lay in his emphasis on human kindness as, so to speak, our saving grace.” quote by Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ab/michael-dirda-3414_emphasis_i-think-the-essence-of-kurt-vonnegut-s-h_2901067.png)
