Books Quote by Thomas Carlyle

The object of the novelist is to keep the reader entirely oblivious of the fact that the author exists - even of the fact…

— Ford Madox Ford

Few authors understand themselves, and a proper reader must not only understand his author but also be able to see beyond him

— Johann Georg Hamann

The novelist helps us to see things we might not notice otherwise.

— Madeleine L'Engle

Every reader finds himself. The writer's work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what,…

— Marcel Proust

The author, in his work, must be like God in the Universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.

— Gustave Flaubert

Reader look, not on his picture but his book.

— Ben Jonson

Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer's work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the…

— Marcel Proust

“In reality every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self. The writer's work is merely a kind of optical…

— Marcel Proust

He who would reproach an author for obscurity should look into his own mind to see whether it is quite clear there. In the…

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A writer never reads his work. For him, it is the unreadable, a secret, and he cannot remain face to face with it. A…

— Maurice Blanchot

The materials of the novelist must be real; they must be gathered from the field of humanity by his actual observation.

— Goldwin Smith

I do not read a book; I hold a conversation with the author.

— Elbert Hubbard