This book endeavors to clear away the mists which prevent so many from seeing the road.
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.
The Book of Mormon is no more the word of God than is an advertising circular for stomach powders.
All the thick books that you've read will count for nothing in the end.
A book may only be judged for what it is, not what you'd like it to be.
Only two classes of books are of universal appeal: the very best and the very worst.
Everything I have written is the result of reading or of interest in people.
A book is simply the container of an idea—like a bottle; what is inside the book is what matters.
If you want to understand the beliefs that are shaping global politics, read the Book of Revelation.
To be learned in literature is such a different thing from liking it.
Teaching literature is impossible; that is why it is difficult.