Books Quote by Michael Ondaatje

The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.

— Michael Ondaatje

If you read the novel, you have expectations. And, if you've seen something first, it's just hard to do.

— Chloe Grace Moretz

Sometimes, a novel is like a train: the first chapter is a comfortable seat in an attractive carriage, and the narrative speeds up. But…

— Jane Smiley

“Every book has to wait for the right time to be read and understood.”

— Kamand Kojouri

“Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.”

— Charles Van Doren

The luxury of time to write, and the confidence to do so, make it easier for the more affluent and when the most decorated…

— Dawn Foster

“The most important sentence in a book is the first sentence. Everything follows from it. The first words have to stop the reader in…

— Anonymous

A novel ensures that we can look before and after, take action at whatever pace we choose, read again and again, skip and go…

— William Golding

“You don’t expect your readers to go, “Ah this book’s not just a fine work of literary whatshisname, but also a get-rich-quick scheme,” to…

— Neil Gaiman

Writing a novel is like knocking on a door that will never open. You are so desperate to get in, you will say or…

— Samantha Shannon

“The novels we read allow us to encounter possible persons, versions of ourselves hat we would never see, never permit ourselves to see, never…

— Thomas C. Foster

And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the novel are…

— John Irving