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.
And certainly We gave Moses the Book and We appointed with him his brother Aaron, an aide.
The Bible is the most brutally honest book that does not whitewash or sugarcoat history.
It is impossible to publish your book, and it will not be published in the next 200 years.
So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!
There isn't any distinction between a reader and a writer – reading is so much a part of it.
A charger's saddle is an exalted throne, the best companions are books alone.