The reason that there are so few good books written is that so few people who write know anything.

The reason that there are so few good books written is that so few people who write know anything.

Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.

Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.

That is the point of quotations. One can use another's words to be insulting.

That is the point of quotations. One can use another's words to be insulting.

Quotes from Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara... are as germane to our highly technological, computerized society as a stagecoach on read more

Quotes from Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara... are as germane to our highly technological, computerized society as a stagecoach on a jet runway at Kennedy airport.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of read more

Today the discredit of words is very great. Most of the time the media transmit lies. In the face of an intolerable world, words appear to change very little. State power has become congenitally deaf, which is why --but the editorialists forget it --terrorists are reduced to bombs and hijacking.

Gentle words, quiet words, are after all the most powerful words. They are more convincing, more compelling, more prevailing.

Gentle words, quiet words, are after all the most powerful words. They are more convincing, more compelling, more prevailing.

The biggest critics of my books are people who never read them.

The biggest critics of my books are people who never read them.

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.