The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but read more

The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish.

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its read more

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself.

A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself.

I made a compact with myself that in my person literature should
stand by itself, of itself, and for read more

I made a compact with myself that in my person literature should
stand by itself, of itself, and for itself.

The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.

The decline in literature indicates a decline in the nation. The two keep pace in their downward tendency.

Yet ah! why should they know their fate?Since sorrow never comes too late,And happiness too swiftly flies.Thought would destroy their read more

Yet ah! why should they know their fate?Since sorrow never comes too late,And happiness too swiftly flies.Thought would destroy their paradise.No more; where ignorance is bliss,'Tis folly to be wise. - Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.

Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even though they bring gifts. - Aeneid, read more

Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even though they bring gifts. - Aeneid, The.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

All that non-fiction can do is answer questions. It's fiction's business to ask them.

Education is the state-controlled manufacture of echoes.

Education is the state-controlled manufacture of echoes.