#era

Experience, then, was something that enabled you to do nothing with a clear conscience. Experience was an overrated quality. ↗

— Nick Hornby

#literature #literature-quotes #nick-hornby #novel #experience

To attempt, to brave, to persist, and persevere, to be faithful to one's self, to wrestle with destiny, to astound the catastrophe by the slight fear which is causes us, now to confront unjust power, again to insult intoxicated victory, to hold firm and withstand -- such is the example which nations need and the light which electrifies them. ↗

— Victor Hugo

#politics #revolution #faith

When you're in an extreme situation you tend to avoid facing it by getting caught up in little details. Like a guy who's decided to commit suicide and boards a train only to become obsessed with whether he remembered to lock the door when he left home. ↗

— Ryū Murakami

#japanese #japanese-literature #suicide #home

She told me about the cop. And the movie star, and the construction worker. You're not having a life Michael, you're fucking the Village People one at a time ↗

— Armistead Maupin

#gay-literature #michael-tolliver #life

[T]he new weird represents a productive experiment in fantasy fiction. The New Wave of the 1960s and 1970s arguably embodied science fiction's claim to literary 'seriousness.' This desire for seriousness is not snobbery, as sometimes suggested by folks who overemphasize the entertainment function of speculative fiction; it's about recognition of the vast possibilities within the field. ↗

— Darja Malcolm-Clarke

#literary-criticism #new-wave #new-weird #science-fiction #experience

And when I came in with tears in my eyes, you always knew whether I needed you to hold me or just let me be. I don't know how you knew, but you did, and you made it easier for me. ↗

— Nicholas Sparks

#compassion #understanding #understanding

Beware of the man who denounces woman writers; his penis is tiny and he cannot spell. ↗

— Erica Jong

#literary-criticism #sexism #writer

A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read ‘The Lost Symbol’, by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it. ↗

— The Economist

#literature #reading #novel

Sometimes books feel like the only thing that keep her sane. Actually, she knows that they're the only reason she's still even vaguely okay right now. That's what she clings to: reading great books and seeing great films and, for as long as she's immersed in them, being able to forget, if only for a short time, about the reality of her life. ↗

— Steph Bowe

#books #contemporary #young-adult #life

Feel what it's like to truly starve, and I guarantee that you'll forever think twice before wasting food. ↗

— Criss Jami

#considerate #consideration #environment #experience #famine