Literature is the safe and traditional vehicle through which we learn about the world and pass on values from on generation to the next. Books save lives.
I want to do something splendid… Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead… I think I shall write books.
I'm definitely not a monthly guy. Probably never will be. I'm simply in awe of the guys who do monthly books well... hell, in awe of people who do monthlies period.
It took a brave editor in the U.S. to sign a contract for Dancing Girls, and without her belief in the book, I'm not sure it would ever have found its way into print.
I am hard at work on the second draft ... Second draft is really a misnomer as there are a gazillion revisions, large and small, that go into the writing of a book.
I'd like to thank readers. Every time you open a book, it is a strike against ignorance. Unless you're reading Sarah Palin.
Do not buy finery or jewels, because books are worth more than they are. Adorn your understanding with their precious ideas, because there is no luxury that dazzles like the luxury of science.
Writers are frequently asked why they wrote their first book. A more interesting answer might come from asking them why they wrote their second one.
Henry Miller wrote novels, but he calls his protagonist Henry, often Henry Miller, and his books are in this gray area between memoir and novel.
When I left college I thought - based on a staggeringly inadequate understanding of how the world worked - that I might like to go into book publishing.
It is right and natural that generous minds while in the twenties should think the books which try to reform the world's wrong the greatest of all.
How precious a book is in light of the offering, in the light of the one who has the privilege of this offering. The library tells you of this offering.
The bailout of Fannie Mae is completely off the books. It's going to cost us hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet nobody is placing this in any type of column in accounting for federal debt.
I think 'The Giver' is such a moral book, so filled with important truths, that I couldn't believe anyone would want to suppress it, to keep it from kids.
I think I've written 40 books, and none of them have been heavy on action. I'm an introspective person.
I talked to Marvel about 'Thor' at one point, but I didn't want to do Thor. It wasn't something I read growing up, really; it wasn't one of the books I loved.
The most important thing about reading is not the level of sophistication of the books on your self. There is no prerequisite reading regimen for being a bookworm.
I understand why parents worry about books - they're worried about their kids. They want to keep their kids safe. But parents aren't always realistic.
It's neither my job nor within my capabilities to save people. But a book sure can try.
We unwittingly judge products by their boxes, books by their covers, and even corporation's annual reports by their nice glossy finish.
Some people get their books on the best-seller list and then they count the number of weeks, and I just never want to live that way.
