“The literary text seems like "a fortified medieval town foreigners and outsiders are repelled, or allowed in only after rigorous checks, but within all is bustling life; exchange, mutual interdepen...”

“The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.”

“But instead of spending our lives running towards our dreams, we are often running away from a fear of failure or a fear of criticism.”

“The ugliest government is the one which is spreading fear to its own people! The finest government is the one which encourages its own people to criticize the government harshly.”

“Literature is like phosphorus: it shines with its maximum brilliance and the moment when it attempts to die.”

“The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.”