Best Literary Words

789 Literary quotes by 596 unique authors

You have to remember that I was a bright but simple fellow from Canada who seldom, if ever, met another writer, and then only a… — A. E. van Vogt
Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever. You can go not only into the future,… — Theodore Sturgeon
I've always taken that as my guiding principle and the rest is just set dressing. You can have dragons in it, or aliens and starships,… — George R. R. Martin
Literary education is of no value, if it is not able to build up a sound character. — Mahatma Gandhi
There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The… — Larry Niven
A life spent largely among books, and in the exercise of a literary profession, has very obvious drawbacks, as a subject-matter, when one comes to… — Mary Augusta Ward
The idea that all the people locked up in mental hospitals are sane while all the people walking about are mad is merely a literary… — Tom Stoppard
I would rather win souls than be the greatest king or emperor on earth; I would rather win souls than be the greatest general that… — Reuben Archer Torrey
Literary confessors are contemptible, like beggars who exhibit their sores for money, but not so contemptible as the public that buys their books. — Wystan Hugh Auden
Sex in a woman's world has the same currency a penny has in a man's. Every penny saved is a penny earned in one world… — Harry Golden
Whether we like it or not, quantification in history is here to stay for reasons which the quantifiers themselves might not actively approve. We are… — J. H. Plumb
Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces. — Allegra Goodman
Gunn would be an important figure-rewarding, delightful, accomplished, enduring-in the history of English-language poetry even were his life not as fascinating as it now seems;… — Stephen Burt
Evan Handler is not only a fine actor, he’s a damn good writer. It’s Only Temporary is wise and funny and as righteously indignant as… — Meghan Daum
The fact that fairy tales remain a literary underdog-undervalued and undermined-even as they shape so many popular stories, redoubles my certainty that it is time… — Kate Bernheimer
The literary story is a story that deals with the complicated human heart with an honest tolerance for the ambiguity in which we live. — Ron Carlson
Literary works cannot be taken over like factories, or literary forms of expression like industrial methods. Realist writing, of which history offers many widely varying… — Bertolt Brecht
As I said earlier, there are no writers who could create a literary vision of the new reality. — Andrzej Wajda
I doubt very much if a man whose main literary interests were in works by Mr. Zane Grey, admirable as they may be, is particularly… — Dean Acheson
Since it is impossible to know what's really happening, we Peruvians lie, invent, dream and take refuge in illusion. Because of these strange circumstances, Peruvian… — Mario Vargas Llosa
The unusual is only found in a very small percentage, except in literary creations, and that is exactly what makes literature. — Julio Cortazar
I love this word decadence, all shimmering in purple and gold. It suggests the subtle thoughts of ultimate civilization, a high literary culture, a soul… — Paul Verlaine
I was editor of my high school literary magazine and a reporter for the school newspaper. — Jeffery Deaver
If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong. — Aaron Copland
I do not know what might be the most fitting description.... I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a… — Pope Francis

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