I read the Bible to myself; I’ll take any translation, any edition, and read it aloud, just to hear the language, hear the rhythm, and remind myself how beautiful English is.

Language is a weapon of politicians, but language is a weapon in much of human affairs.

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.

I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.

The first book I ever really read was Plato’s ‚Republic,‘ and then I had to go over that five times or something.

Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger.

The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.

Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that.

I’ve often made revisions at that stage that turned out to be mistakes because I wasn’t really in the rhythm of the story anymore. I see a little bit of writing that doesn’t seem to be doing as much work as it should be doing, and right at the end, I will sort of rev it up. But when I finally read the story again, it seems a bit obtrusive.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

If the government ever imposes a tax on books – and I wouldn’t put it past them – I’m in dead trouble.

Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.

The Bible is full of warnings about false prophets and false messiahs. These satanically inspired people have appeared in almost every generation of history.

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.

Science is not everything, but science is very beautiful.

If I like a thing, it just sticks after once reading it or hearing it.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!

‚Mystic River‘ just smelled interesting to me. So I read it and liked it right away. Even the dialogue in it was great.

A friend of mine tells that I talk in shorthand and then smudge it.

Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.

If literature isn’t everything, it’s not worth a single hour of someone’s trouble.

Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

To such an extent does nature delight and abound in variety that among her trees there is not one plant to be found which is exactly like another; and not only among the plants, but among the boughs, the leaves and the fruits, you will not find one which is exactly similar to another.

I think that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin, but the Bible also teaches that pride is a sin, jealousy is a sin, and hate is a sin, evil thoughts are a sin. So I don’t think that homosexuality should be chosen as the overwhelming sin that we are doing today.

If you want to talk about something new, you have to make up a new kind of language.

The finest works of art are precious, among other reasons, because they make it possible for us to know, if only imperfectly and for a little while, what it actually feels like to think subtly and feel nobly.

Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.

I’ve loved reading all my life.

Science is a beautiful gift to humanity; we should not distort it.

It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.

Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?

If anything, I get most upset because I wanna read a good paper first thing in the morning. And if I see a lie about myself flash across the front of the cover, I don’t think much of the rest of the newspaper.

Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.

I have a brother and sister; my mother does not care for thought, and father, too busy with his briefs to notice what we do. He buys me many books, but begs me not to read them, because he fears they joggle the mind.

You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.

Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.

If you can’t read, it’s going to be hard to realize dreams.

Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts.

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.

Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.

I’ve actually not read any books on time management.

Of course, there are those critics – New York critics as a rule – who say, ‚Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.‘ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

Nothing is beautiful, only man: on this piece of naivete rests all aesthetics, it is the first truth of aesthetics. Let us immediately add its second: nothing is ugly but degenerate man – the domain of aesthetic judgment is therewith defined.

Many parents and teachers have become irritated to the point of distraction at the way the weed-style growth of ‚like‘ has spread through the idiom of the young. And it’s true that in some cases the term has become simultaneously a crutch and a tic, driving out the rest of the vocabulary as candy expels vegetables.

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

Just be a cool grandpa who’s creative, and hang out and tell stories and read a book in the library.

The Bible illustrated by Dore occupied many of my hours – and I think probably gave me many nightmares.

The people who were honored in the Bible were the false prophets. It was the ones we call the prophets who were jailed and driven into the desert.

My belief is that we were put into this world of wonders and beauty with a special ability to appreciate them, in some cases to have the fun of taking a hand in developing them, and also in being able to help other people instead of overreaching them and, through it all, to enjoy life – that is, to be happy.

I’m not well-read, but when I read, I read well.

The terrifying and edible beauty of Art Nouveau architecture.

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – ‚tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.

I will meet my countrymen. I understand only one language: that they are my countrymen, they are my brothers. You may see with whatever colour you want; Modi will not go into that colour.