Books Quotes
Samuel Johnson is on this page more than once for good reason. In The Rambler (1750) he wrote that no place gives a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library. Boswell (1791) has him saying that a man ought to read just as inclination leads him, because what he reads as a task will do him little good. Alberto Manguel, Emerson and Northrop Frye are among the most-quoted writers here, which is what you would expect from people who spent their working lives reading.
Two entries are flagged as misattributed. The quip about a manuscript that is both good and original, with the good parts not original and the original parts not good, is credited to Johnson. “Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!” is credited to General Patton.
Ooh, look at me, I’m Dave, I’m writing a book! With all my thoughts in it. La la la!
...letters of a burning book
dance in flame not every time
and not every time literally.
Yesterday's kook book becomes tomorrow's standard text. (2:495)
Sacred time is always in the Present. (Part One, Book Five: The Border)
Two good books to read: A Life Full of Holes, Charhadi/I Work Like a Gardener, Joan Miró
You can’t study human nature in books. Books is a hindrance more than anything else. p. 25