21 quotes found
“exaggeration is the octopus of the English language”
“A man's library opens up his character to the world.”
“Though an angel should write, still 'tis devils must print”
“'Pity without rigor would be cowardly egotism, mere sentimentality.'”
“ 'Pity without rigor would be cowardly egotism, mere sentimentality.' ”
“People hate the idea of politicians, you see, but love the idea of authors, at least until they meet one.”
“Longfellow smiled. "A great part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, my dear Lowell, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.”
“Believe that when I am at once a man's friend I am always so-nor is it so very hard to bring me to it. And though a man may enjoy himself in being my enemy, he cannot make me HIS for longer than I ...”
“Books do pretend ...but squeezed in between is even more that is truewithout what you may call the lies, the pages would be too light for the truth, you see?”
“An obscure character by the name of Belial. He is interpreted as a minion of the devil by some scholars, but that is wrong. It is ignorance. The name means, literally speaking, 'one who cannot be y...”
“It is not when a man is at the end of his life, but when a man is at the end of his profession, that his soul shows itself.”
“He worshipped at the temple of her intellect and I believe it was a comfort to him to know that she left our world with it still shining.”
“Books inspire a man to embrace the world or flee it. They start wars and end them. They make the men and women who write and publish them vast fortunes, and nearly as quickly can drive them into ma...”
“These writers take the essence of every person around them, turn them into books and stories without permission or even a simple thank-you, and want all the credit and glory for themselves.”
“A man was leaning idly against an elm. ... The man, who towered over the poet even at his slanting angle, too old for a student and too worn for a faculty member, stared at him with the familiar, i...”
“...It is the one time Dante calls such explicit attention to the idea of contrapasso-a word for which we have no exact translation, no precise definition in English, because the word in itself is i...”
“Avoid the Holy Grail, the heroic journeys, the pursuit of a legend--that is not the life of the bookaneer, who must keep his eyes on the ground while other book people live by dreaming.”
“When it comes to referring to Dickens's life, performing plays with your nine children for friends and family during Christmas is Dickensian.”
“My high school English teacher in junior year, Dr. Robert Parsons, assigned us some Poe stories, including 'The Black Cat' and 'The Purloined Letter.' Being an animal person, I had trouble with 'Th...”
“I don't like my birthday. I don't like things that are directed towards me. It took me a long time to get over people asking me to write my name in the book.”
“Books do pretend ...but squeezed in between is even more that is true—without what you may call the lies, the pages would be too light for the truth, you see?”
