Ever since I arrived to a state of manhood, I have felt a sincere passion for liberty. The history of nations doomed to perpetual slavery, in consequence of yielding up to tyrants their natural born liberties, I read with a sort of philosophical horr...
Literature duplicates the experience of living in a way that nothing else can, drawing you so fully into another life that you temporarily forget you have one of your own. That is why you read it, and might even sit up in bed till early dawn, throwin...
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." ~ Jane Austin. Arguably one of the best opening lines in literary history (I said ARGUABLY doesn't mean I want to argue). However, ...
I had not seen "Pride and Prejudice," till I read that sentence of yours, and then I got the book. And what did I find? An accurate daguerreotyped portrait of a common-place face; a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and de...
Poetry rhymes, a song our souls need to nourish upon. Poetry is a drum, a sound our bodies wish to have. Poetry is organized, a reading our eyes wish to view. Poetry is refined, a structure our moral selves seek. Poetry is civil, instigating the worl...
You don't just have people who wake up in the morning and say, "What evil things can I do today, because I'm Mr. Evil?" People do things for what they think are justified reasons. Everybody is the hero of their own story, and you have to keep that in...
He had read much of things as they are, and talked with too many people. Well-meaning philosophers had taught him to look into the logical relations of things, and analyse the processes which shaped his thoughts and fancies. Wonder had gone away, and...
One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And ...
It is the form that allows a writer the greatest opportunity to explore human experience...For that reason, reading a novel is potentially a significant act. Because there are so many varieties of human experience, so many kinds of interaction betwee...
Later, in my adulthood, I will read the book again, even watch the movie, and understand that I wasn’t equipped, as a child, to make room for arguments that would undermine every single choice made for me, that would shatter the foundations of my v...
Moon In the Window I wish I could say I was the kind of child who watched the moon from her window, would turn toward it and wonder. I never wondered. I read. Dark signs that crawled toward the edge of the page. It took me years to grow a heart from ...
A public library is the most democratic thing in the world. What can be found there has undone dictators and tyrants: demagogues can persecute writers and tell them what to write as much as they like, but they cannot vanish what has been written in t...
I look upon every good man, as a good book, lent by its owner for another to read, and transcribe the excellent notions and golden passages that are in it for his own benefit, that they may return with him when the owner shall call for the book again...
I write because I have an innate need to. I write because I can't do normal work. I write because I want to read books like the ones I write. I write because I am angry at everyone. I write because I love sitting in a room all day writing. I write be...
Vicomte de Valmont: Be careful of the Marquise de Merteuil. Chevalier Danceny: You must permit me to treat with skepticism anything you have to say about her. Vicomte de Valmont: Nevertheless, I must tell you in this affair, we are both her creatures...
Gru: [reading the book he wrote] One big unicorn, strong and free, thought he was happy as he could be. Then three little kittens came around and turned his whole life upside down. They made him laugh, they made him cry. He never should have said goo...
Rhomann Dey: Peter Jason Quill. He's also known as Star-Lord. Nova Corps Officer: Who calls him that? Rhomann Dey: Himself, mostly. Wanted mostly on charges of minor assault, public intoxication and fraud... [Quill winds up his finger and flips the b...
Prison Guard: Lunch time. The longer you wait the colder your lunch will get. Come on. Hey you turkey! [the prison gaurd proceeds to Jake Frateli's cell where he finds him hanging from his cell wall with a note pinned to his shirt. Reading] Prison Gu...
Wray: Did you find what was in the pocket? Cherry: Fuck no. Wray: Look for it. Cherry: [searches through one pocket] Wray: No, the other one. Cherry: [searches through the other pocket and takes out a box with a ring inside it] Wray: I was gonna give...
Dirch Frode: What can you tell me about Blomkvist? Lisbeth Salander: Everything is in the report. Dirch Frode: The short version. Lisbeth Salander: Blomkvist got the nickname Kalle Blomkvist when he solved a bank robbery in the 80s. He's a very publi...
Enid: I already told you I'm not going to college. Enid's Dad: [spreading jam on a muffin] Well, I think it's a good idea to keep all your options open. You could even enrol in the winter quarter. You could actually live here and go to the city colle...
