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Literature is the orchestration of platitudes.

— Thornton Wilder

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More quotes by Thornton Wilder

Money is like manure; it's not worth a thing unless it's spread around encouraging young things to grow.

The Matchmaker (1954)

I hold that we cannot be said to be aware of our minds save under responsibility.

The Ides of March (1948)

Wherever you come near the human race there's layers and layers of nonsense.

Our Town (1938)

Love is an energy which exists of itself. It is its own value.

Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. ...Do human beings ever realize life while they live it? — Every, every minute?

Our Town (1938)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Thornton Wilder (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.