Great Literature Quotes

35 Great Literature quotes by 33 unique authors

The myth that everyone once read great literature is just a myth. — Margaret Atwood
A people may become great through many means, but there is only one measure by which its greatness is recognized and acknowledged. The final measure… — James Weldon Johnson
Great literature is like moral leadership; everyone deplores the lack of it, but there is a tendency to prefer it from the safely dead. — Shirley Hazzard
America is the only nation in the world that is founded on creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in… — Gilbert K. Chesterton
There will still be things that machines cannot do. They will not produce great art or great literature or great philosophy; they will not be… — Bertrand Russell
Great literature cannot grow from a neglected or impoverished soil. Only if we actually tend or care will it transpire that every hundred years or… — P.D. James
Real literature is something much better than a harmless instrument for getting through idle hours. The purpose of great literature is to help us to… — Russell Kirk
The same authorities who insist upon beginnings, middles, and ends, declare that Great Literature (by which they mean the stories they have been taught to… — Gene Wolfe
And in down times it shakes a lot of the bad SF out, a lot the stuff that was bought for literary reasons, which is… — Jerry Pournelle
I doubt if anything learnt at school is of more value than great literature learnt by heart. — Richard Livingstone
Perhaps the most surprising thing about mathematics is that it is so surprising. The rules which we make up at the beginning seem ordinary and… — Edward Charles Titchmarsh
Great literature transcends its native land, but none that I know of ignores its soil. — J. Frank Dobie
Literature bores me, especially great literature — John Berryman
Great literature should do some good to the reader: must quicken his perception though dull, and sharpen his discrimination though blunt, and mellow the rawness… — A. E. Housman
A great literature is chiefly the product of inquiring minds in revolt against the immovable certainties of the nation — H. L. Mencken
What’s strange is how many beginning writers seem to think that grammar is irrelevant, or that they are somehow above or beyond this subject more… — Francine Prose
No one bothered reading the books and understanding - and again, I'm not being high-falutin' about it - but I think our books are great… — Avi Arad
Great literature must spring from an upheaval in the author's soul. If that upheaval is not present then it must come from the works of… — Robert Benchley
I'm not writing great literature. I'm writing commercial fiction for people to enjoy the stories and to like the characters. — Kathy Reichs
Just as the office worker dreams of murdering his hated boss and so is saved from really murdering him, so it is with the author;… — Ernesto Sabato
What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote. — E. M. Forster
When I read great literature, great drama, speeches, or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to… — James Earl Jones
The idea behind a dish - the delight and the surprise - makes a difference. Great literature surprises and delights, and provokes us. It isn't… — Nathan Myhrvold
I think you can find all the elements that you can find in great literature in mundane experiences. — Harvey Pekar
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. — Ezra Pound

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33 authors contributed a total of 35 Great Literature Quotes, led by these top contributors:

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