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.
Habent sua fata libelli et balli [Books and bullets have their own destinies]
Salma Khadra al-Jayusi has been instrumental in her role as a transmitter of Arabic literature.
I don’t care what people say though, the book’s champion declared. It is beautiful writing
Once a writer has published a book, it belongs to its readers.
I want literature to be a means for creating humility. (Introduction)
The sentences coming out of him displaced those scrolling under his eyes in the book. (chapter 8)
“There is nothing stopping a beautiful girl from facing her books”
We need better educated and positioned allies, and literature is one way to make this happen.