#liter

He felt so lost, he said later, that the familiar studio felt like a haunted valley deep in the mountains, with the smell of rotting leaves, the spray of a waterfall, the sour fumes of fruit stashed away by a monkey; even the dim glow of the master's oil lamp on its tripod looked to him like misty moonlight in the hills. ↗

— Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

#japanese #japanese-literature #japan

When you're a kid, getting lost isn't just an event or a situation, it's like a career move. You get this thrill of anxiety and fear and a feeling that you've done something that can never be undone. ↗

— Ryū Murakami

#japanese #japanese-literature #japan

He invited me to his apartment in the wee hours one morning and pulled out a set of children's building blocks. It seems he used to ride around and around on the Yamanote Line with them, building castles on the floor of the train. ↗

— Ryū Murakami

#japanese #japanese-literature #train #yamanote #japan

Say, you told me you thought Les Miserables was the greatest novel ever written. I think Vanity Fair is the greatest. Let's fight. - Joe Willard ↗

— Maud Hart Lovelace

#flirting #vanity

There is no such thing as a leap into literacy. ↗

— David Petersen

#grammar

The Bible is not interested in arguing, because if you state a thesis of belief you have already stated it's opposite; if you say, I believe in God, you have already suggested the possibility of not believing in him. [p.250] ↗

— Northrop Frye

#poetic-theory #world-culture #mythology

To go where no one else has ever gone before is the secret of heroism. ↗

— Dejan Stojanovic

#heroism #literature #literature-quotes #poetry #poetry-quotes

A little vanilla never hurt anybody.” He nipped her ankle. “Great shoes by the way. Sexy as hell. ↗

— Hanna Lui

#erotic-literature #erotic-romance #erotica #funny #funny

Funny way to spend your life, though, studying another chap's versifying. ↗

— A.S. Byatt

#funny

But there is in everything a reasonable division of labour. I have written the book, and nothing on earth would induce me to read it. ↗

— G.K. Chesterton

#humor #literary-criticism #humor