Quote by Joan Wickersham

The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life.

— Samuel Johnson

“What did one see if one looked in any depth into the world of this writer's fiction? Elegant self-control concealing from the world's eyes…

— Thomas Mann

“This then was English fiction, this was English criticism, and farce, after all, was but an ill-played tragedy.”

— Arthur Machen

“Outbreaks of unvarnished truths in the backyard of our true self can be very precious and inspiring, even though we might inconsistently be tempted…

— Erik Pevernagie

“Though I cannot tell why it was exactly that those stage managers, the Fates, put me down for this shabby part of a whaling…

— Herman Melville

“Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds; and until we know what has been or will be the peculiar combination…

— Marian Evans

“Look beneath the surface. Things are usually very different from how they initially appeared, and ignorance, which didn't look beneath the surface, turns to…

— Baltasar Gracián

“In these times where it has seemed dark indeed where integrity appears solely buried in legend and lore, it is an opportunity in contrast…

— Tom Althouse

At a distance from the theatre of action, truth is not always related without embellishment, and sometimes is entirely perverted, from a misconception of…

— George Washington

Truth, like beauty, varies its fashions, and is best recommended by different dresses to different minds; and he that recalls the attention of mankind…

— Samuel Johnson

“The prevarication and white lies which a mind that keeps itself ambitiously pure is as uneasy under as a great artist under the false…

— George Eliot

“Literature, like magic, has always been about the handling of secrets, about the pain, the destruction, and the marvelous liberation that can result when…

— Michael Chabon