Sometimes it seems that we might have been happier if we had once had an aristocracy to blame everything on.

The more I like a book, the more reluctant I am to turn the page. Lovers, even book lovers, tend to cling. No one-night stands or "reads" for them.

Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.

The moment a book is lent I begin to miss it.

There is something about seeing real people on a stage that makes a bad play more intimately, more personally offensive than any other art form.

The more I like a book, the more slowly I read. this spontaneous talking back to a book is one of the things that makes reading so valuable.

To be misunderstood can be the writer's punishment for having disturbed the reader's peace. The greater the disturbance, the greater the possibility of misunderstanding.