Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting.

Criticism is an indirect form of self-boasting.

Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.

Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.

The words of the world want to make sentences.

The words of the world want to make sentences.

To write is to make oneself the echo of what cannot cease speaking -- and since it cannot, in order read more

To write is to make oneself the echo of what cannot cease speaking -- and since it cannot, in order to become its echo I have, in a way, to silence it. I bring to this incessant speech the decisiveness, the authority of my own silence.

Though by whim, envy, or resentment led, they damn those authors whom they never read.

Though by whim, envy, or resentment led, they damn those authors whom they never read.

Some authors should be paid by the quantity NOT written.

Some authors should be paid by the quantity NOT written.

We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often read more

We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living.

I think we must quote whenever we feel that the allusion is interesting or helpful or amusing.

I think we must quote whenever we feel that the allusion is interesting or helpful or amusing.

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.