Of all
the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is
regarded as the most praiseworthy method. Writers
are really people who write books not because they
are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the
books which they could buy but do not like.
-- Walter Benjamin
1982-1940, German
Critic, Philosopher
The
power of a text is different when it is read from
when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus
commands the soul of him who is occupied with it,
whereas the mere reader never discovers the new
aspects of his inner self that are opened by the
text, that road cut through the interior jungle
forever closing behind it: because the reader
follows the movement of his mind in the free flight
of day-dreaming, whereas the copier submits it to
command.
-- Walter Benjamin
1982-1940, German
Critic, Philosopher
Does
there, I wonder, exist a being who has read all, or
approximately all, that the person of average
culture is supposed to have read, and that not to
have read is a social sin? If such a being does
exist, surely he is an old, a very old man.
-- Arnold Bennett
1867-1931, British
Novelist
All
the best stories in the world are but one story in
reality -- the story of escape. It is the only thing
which interests us all and at all times, how to
escape.
-- Arthur Christopher
Benson
1862-1925, British
Author, Poet
