Literature Quotes - Page 105

The force of the advertising word and image dwarfs the power of other literature in the 20th century.

Confidence is highly overrated when it comes to creating literature. A writer who is overly confident will not engage in the struggle to get it exactly right on the page - but rather, will assume that she's getting it right without the struggle.

Paradoxically, the simpler poetry is, the more difficult it becomes for a critic to discuss intelligently. Trained to explicate, the critic often loses the ability to evaluate literature outside the critical act. A work is good only in proportion to the richness and complexity of interpretations it provokes.

Each nation feels superior to other nations. That breeds patriotism - and wars.

Since obscenity is the truth of our passion today, it is the only stuff of art -- or almost the only stuff.

Having achieved and accomplished love, then the man passes into the unknown. He has become himself, his tale is told.

Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The proper function of the critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it.

The true artist doesn't substitute immorality for morality. On the contrary, he always substitutes a finer morality for a grosser one.

The great mass of humanity should never learn to read or write.

It is a mistake to expect good work from expatriates for it is not what they do that matters but what they are not doing.

Imprisoned in every fat man a thin one is wildly signalling to be let out.

The true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence.

I initially studied literature [in France], and then I went to cinema school. I discovered the Cinematheque, and saw not only action movies and westerns, but also lots of serious movies.

I once bought an old car back after I sold it because I missed it so much and I had forgotten that it never ran. It was a British racing car. You know, because I just wanted it back. I could only remember what was good about it

You can plan to be brave - it's even better if you just try to be brave.

I don't care what they do with my book so long as the flippin check clears.

I wanted to write about the moment when your addictions no longer hide the truth from you. When your whole life breaks down. That's the moment when you have to somehow choose what your life is going to be about.

Yet humanitarianism is not a purely Christian movement any more than it is a purely humanist one

The present age has seen a great slump in humanist values.

As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue.

It doesn't serve an American interest. It really doesn't really serve Israeli interests - it serves the interests of the political party that's getting the votes of the settlers on the West Bank.

I don't know why his lawyers didn't tell him, 'You don't have to answer any questions about your private life, Mr. President. Let them sue you. Take the heat. You don't have to answer.'

You don't know whether he's thought through how this is going to affect the Middle East.

Then the administration tied it in to the regional dispute between Israel and its enemies, as if that's about international terrorism. No, it's not.

I can cite a chapter and verse of literature at the times saying Italians don`t speak our language, these folks coming from other places - it sounds identical to what you are saying about Muslims now. It really does.