Cat Quote by Samuel Butler

They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, 'Can he name a kitten?'

— Samuel Butler

The test of literature is, I suppose, whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it.

— Elizabeth Drew

“Writing has the power of permanence.”

— Bryant McGill

“This is the paradox of the power of literature: it seems that only when it is persecuted does it show its true powers, challenging…

— Italo Calvino

The power of language, it seems to me, is the only kind of power a writer is entitled to.

— Cynthia Ozick

“Concering the power of the written word”

— Julie Hearn

A man of letters, merely by reading a phrase, can estimate exactly the literary merit of its author.

— Marcel Proust

The only test of work of literature is that it shall please other ages than its own.

— Gerald Brenan

“Prior to any generalization about literature, literary texts have to be read, and the possibility of reading can never be taken for granted. It…

— Paul De Man

“Literary works are pieces of rhetoric as well as reports. They demand a peculiarly vigilant kind of reading, one which is alert to tone,…

— Terry Eagleton

“Written words have power. They evoke emotion, and that emotion demands a response.”

— Jenny Hayworth

“But the detail of the poem shows power akin to genius, and reveals to us that much neglected law of literary history -- that…

— C.S. Lewis