Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It is useless to read Greek in translation; translators can but offer us a vague equivalent.
Surely it was time someone invented a new plot, or that the author came out from the bushes.
Am I a weed, carried this way, that way, on a tide that comes twice a day without a meaning?
We are nauseated by the sight of trivial personalities decomposing in the eternity of print.
God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart to the finest verses chanted by the wicked.
Every abuse ought to be reformed, unless the reform is more dangerous than the abuse itself.
Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most
Physics should represent a reality in time and space, free from spooky action at a distance.
I am a fruitarian and I will only eat leaves picked by virgins in the moonlight - Steve Jobs
Men who are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives.
The world is itself but a larger prison, out of which some are daily selected for execution.
Circumstances form the character; but, like petrifying matters, they harden while they form.
Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom begins as a broken precedent.
If I had not existed, someone else would have written me, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, all of us.
Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering other people's weaknesses.
Our contempt for others proves nothing but the illiberality and narrowness of our own views.
Learning is, in too many cases, but a foil to common sense; a substitute for true knowledge.
Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.
The fact that logic cannot satisfy us awakens an almost insatiable hunger for the irrational.
We, while noting many things amiss about Victorian society, more often sense them judging us.
We are all made from star dust and we will all return to star dust, like a cosmic palindrome.
One, I push my deadlines closer than anybody else, or let's say it this way: I'm really late.
In bookstores, my stuff is usually filed in the out-of-the-way, additional interest sections.
Bad art might be defined as a series of bad choices about what to show and what to leave out.
Among adults, we can admit that of course, characters are creations. They aren't real people.
My theory is that many of the things that move us are things we long for but find hard to do.
Give people permission to be who they are and they will love, thank, and respect you forever.
Half of your power lies in your sameness with others. The other half lies in your uniqueness.
People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.
I suppose that the main drive is to find the edge of something and then throw myself over it.
None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with YOU. You're locked up in here with ME.
The quality of moral behavior varies in inverse ratio to the number of human beings involved.
Every significant artist is a metaphysician, a propounder of beauty-truths and form-theories.
If you lose sight of the smaller accomplishments , you end up with an imbalance in your life.
Guard against idols -- yes, guard against all idols, of which surely the greatest is oneself.
I'm not usually drawn to memoir - many run the risk of self-aggrandizement or score-settling.
Rome in the ages, dimmed with all her towers, / Floats in the mist, a little cloud at tether.
Part of the creative process for me is an invitation for readers to follow their imagination.
Optimism is the last resort of those in deep despair. There can't be any optimists in heaven.
The attractiveness that exists to man in the very helplessness of woman is scarcely realized.
Nobody knows the future with certainty. We can, however, identify ongoing patterns of change.
God has been replaced, as he has all over the West, with respectability and air conditioning.
You know, gynecology has a role; sex is a gift. And literature is not about sending messages.
My musical instrument is Hebrew and, to me, this is the most important fact about my writing.
consolation is a beautiful word. everyone skins his knee-that doesnt make yours hurt anyless.
Destiny changes, fate changes, just believe in your inner self, your dreams and your strength
Either a writer doesn't want to talk about his work, or he talks about it more than you want.
In Alexandria, my birthplace and my home, all streets bearing Jewish names have been renamed.
When will the arbitrary be granted the place it deserves in the formation of works and ideas?
Keep reminding yourself that literature is one of the saddest roads that leads to everything.