To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.
Reading history, one rarely gets the feeling of the true nature of scientific development, in which the element of farce is as great as the element of triumph.
I went on a Buddha jag. I read 'Confession of a Buddhist Atheist' by Stephen Batchelor and Karen Armstrong's biography of Buddha, which is a great book.
If you need proof of how the oral relates to the written, consider that many great novelists, including Joyce and Hemingway, never submitted a piece of work without reading it aloud.
So many directors say nothing beautifully, and so many others say great and profound things but have no idea how to read a light meter or arrange a shot.
I try to read for pleasure whenever I can - it's a great way just to shut it off for a while so your brain doesn't get fried.
'The Great Gatsby' is a book I have read a few times, and it seems to get heavier every time I come to visit.
In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.
Yeah, that came out of a reading. It was great. It's such a fun crew to be with, and we all went out the night before and that really encouraged us to go out and get drunk.
I read recently of the advent of a completely wireless house. Having just moved house and being drowned in billions of cords and cables, that sounds like a great thing to have.
Plays, especially great plays, yield their secrets over a long period of time. You can't read it three times and say, 'OK, I got it. I know what's happening.'
I still read scripts, and if something great comes along, that's great... but this is my day job. The Row is where I go every day.
A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.
Good stories flow like honey. Bad stories stick in the craw. A bad story? One that cannot be absorbed on the first time of reading.
A good argument, like a good dialogue, is always a proof of life, but I'd much rather go and read a book.
Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.
However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
I try to be a good human being and keep up with what's going on in the world by reading and staying in touch with the current events.
If you really hate George Bush, you don't want to read about his hobbies or that he's nice to his friends or that he's good company at dinner.
It wasn't a good idea to work on 'Naked' in the first months of a marriage. I was living apart from my wife in a flat overflowing with books I was reading for the part.
When I read something saying I've not done anything as good as 'Catch-22' I'm tempted to reply, 'Who has?'
