““The English major is, first of all, a reader. She's got a book pup-tented in front of her nose many hours a day; her Kindle glows softly late into the night. But there are readers and there are readers. There are people who read to anesthetize themselves—they read to induce a vivid, continuous, and risk-free daydream. They read for the same reason that people grab a glass of chardonnay—to put a light buzz on. The English major reads because, as rich as the one life he has may be, one life is not enough. He reads not to see the world through the eyes of other people but effectively to become other people. What is it like to be John Milton, Jane Austen, Chinua Achebe? What is it like to be them at their best, at the top of their games?””
![“I majored in English in college and that was my major in graduate school before switching to creative writing. I read a lot of [Charles] Dickens and [Anthony ] Trollope, but there was lots of stuff I hadn't read like Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," which is so well written and funny.” quote by Stephen Dobyns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/693/stephen-dobyns-13599_college_i-majored-in-english-in-college-and-that_1010174.jpg)
![“The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers.” quote by Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/615/harold-bloom-3350_art_the-art-and-passion-of-reading-well-and_348845.jpg)
![“The presence of God compelled human[s] to quest for an ideal. They had to strive for something to win God's blessing… Nietzsche feared that with God's passing even that striving would stop. No one would think it worthwhile to try to overcome himself. People who would live happily with their own…” quote by Mark Edmundson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dc3/mark-edmundson-35432_nature-of-man_the-presence-of-god-compelled-human-s-to_1129279.jpg)
![“[Steven] King is an entertainment. King is a diversion. But when you try to take him as a guide to life, he won't work. The circles he draws on the deep are weak and irresolute. And this is so in part because King...is a sentimental writer. In his universe, the children...are good, right, just and…” quote by Mark Edmundson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f77/mark-edmundson-35432_life_steven-king-is-an-entertainment-king-is_2191151.jpg)
