Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to read more

Author: A fool who, not content with having bored those who have lived with him, insists on tormenting generations to come.

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.

Essential characteristic of the really great novelist: a Christ-like, all-embracing compassion.

Essential characteristic of the really great novelist: a Christ-like, all-embracing compassion.

Quotation... A writer expresses himself in words that have been used before because they give his meaning better than he read more

Quotation... A writer expresses himself in words that have been used before because they give his meaning better than he can give it himself, or because they are beautiful or witty, or because he expects them to touch a cord of association in his reader, or because he wishes to show that he is learned and well read. Quotations due to the last motive are invariably ill-advised; the discerning reader detects it and is contemptuous; the undiscerning is perhaps impressed, but even then is at the same time repelled, pretentious quotations being the surest road to tedium.

I was allowed to ring the bell for five minutes until everyone was in assembly. It was the beginning of read more

I was allowed to ring the bell for five minutes until everyone was in assembly. It was the beginning of power.

When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half.

When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half.

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.

I would sooner read a timetable or a catalog than nothing at all.

I would sooner read a timetable or a catalog than nothing at all.

The wise weigh their words on a scale with gold.

The wise weigh their words on a scale with gold.