I know that an author must be brave enough to chop away clinging tentacles of good taste for the sake of a great work. But this is no great work, you see.
We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement.
Those who suffer great adversity and sorrow and go on to serve their fellowmen develop a great capacity to understand others. Like the prophets, they have acquired a higher understanding of the mind and will of Christ.
Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics.
[633 on the previous owner of his restaurant] Cop663: He has great business sense. First he sold me fish and chips, then the whole thing.
Melvin B. Tolson: We're holding tryouts for the debate team. Henry Lowe: You sure you want somebody like me? Melvin B. Tolson: No. That's why you're trying out.
Ramsey: [in the first meeting with Von Luger is informed of the large amount of resources being used to guard the prisoners] Well, it's rather nice to know that you're wanted.
Dumbledore: It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.
Mirage: The supers are not gone, Mr. Incredible. You're still here. You can still do great things. Or... you can listen to police scanners. Your choice.
Smalls: Oh yeah, the Great Bambino. Of course! I thought you said the Great Bambi. Ham Porter: That wimpy deer? Smalls: Yeah, I guess. Sorry.
Han Solo: Where did you dig up that old fossil? Luke Skywalker: Ben is a great man. Han Solo: Yeah, great at getting us into trouble.
It takes great courage when you are suffering to see beyond your suffering to the clear relations between things, to the laws that cause and govern your suffering; it takes great courage to be ruthless with one's griefs.
There is not a great difference between a man and a tree. Both are created by God; both are originated from a seed; both grow and both have intention to serve the Universe. So is there a great difference between a man and a tree?
I don't see the use of reading the same thing over and over again,' said Phillip. 'That's only a laborious form of idleness.' But are you under the impression that you have so great a mind that you can understand the most profound writer at a first r...
Do you know why teachers use me? Because I speak in tongues. I write metaphors. Every one of my stories is a metaphor you can remember. The great religions are all metaphor. We appreciate things like Daniel and the lion’s den, and the Tower of Babe...
Writers are compulsive liars desperately trying to tell themselves the truth.
...authority is the unmistakeable tone in the voice of a true writer...
I am a writer, I'm supposed to be intense and emotional,
The love between a writer and a reader is never celebrated.
I was a woman and did not yet think of myself as a writer. I was a mapmaker.
No writer has an imaginative power richer than what the streets offer.
