Living wild species are like a library of books still unread. Our heedless destruction of them is akin to burning the library without ever having read its books.
In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to become to write that book.
I'm writing exactly the kinds of books I like to write. And they're the kinds of books I like to read. They're popular commercial fiction. That's what they are.
We really learn only from those books that we cannot judge. The author of a book that we were able to judge would have to learn from us.
I've nothing against kids reading anything they please, but I do have a problem with pink books for girls and black books for boys.
I've always loved words. I ate up all the books I could get my hands on, and when I couldn't get books, I read candy wrappers and labels on cereal and toothpaste boxes.
I labored for eight years thinking I was writing a book for adults that was a nostalgic look back on childhood. Then my publisher informed me I'd written a children's book.
I'd love to see a good script of one of my books, in these years of animations and comic book sequels, and had so many written over the years, but none quite clicked.
Max Vandenburg: I'm not lost to you, Liesel. You'll always be able to find me in your words. That's where I'll live on.
Max Vandenburg: Tell me, where do you get these words? Liesel Meminger: It's a secret. Max Vandenburg: Who would I tell?
Narrator: While ten thousand souls hid their heads in fear and trembled, one jew thanked God for the stars that blessed his eyes.
Death: The bombs were falling thicker now. It's probably fair to say that no one was able to serve the Führer as loyally as me.
Rosa Hubermann: [cleaning her skinned hands] You're too much like your father. you know that? Liesel Meminger: What's wrong with that?
Rosa Hubermann: [while feeding Max soup] Well, at least someone appreciates my cooking. [a second later, Max throws up the soup]
Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.
I remember the first time I held my book, my first book in my hands. I cannot tell you how it moved me.
I try not to worry about rewriting books that worked well the first time. I'm too busy writing new books to worry about things that are already in print.
'The Prince's blunt candor has been a scandal for 500 years. The book was placed on the Papal Index of banned books in 1559, and its author was denounced on the Elizabethan stages of London as the 'Evil Machiavel.' The outrage has not dimmed with tim...
Certainly one of the surprising truths of having a book published is realizing that your book is as open to interpretation as an abstract painting. People bring their own beliefs and attitudes to your work, which is thrilling and surprising at the sa...
It would absolutely suck if you paid a few bucks for a book only to find that on the first page it said, 'Once upon a time they all lived happily ever after' and the rest of the book was blank.
Esmeralda: [on Plato's book at the same time she provokes the teacher over a past incident between them] I guess that's not a tramp's book, huh?
