#literary

They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, 'Can he name a kitten?' ↗

— Samuel Butler

#inscription #kitten #literary #man #name

I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences and mathematics, and also through an interest in Japanese and Chinese poetry in translation. ↗

— Robert Morgan

#background #came #chinese #did #i

The best source for finding an agent is called Literary Agents of North America. It's a complete list of agents, not only by name and address, but by type of book they represent and by what their submission criteria are. ↗

— Sara Paretsky

#agent #agents #america #best #book

The Bible was written in several languages, embraces many literary forms, and reflects cultures very different from our own. These are important considerations for properly understanding the Bible in its context. ↗

— Troy Perry

#considerations #context #cultures #different #embraces

I never appreciated 'positive heroes' in literature. They are almost always cliches, copies of copies, until the model is exhausted. I prefer perplexity, doubt, uncertainty, not just because it provides a more 'productive' literary raw material, but because that is the way we humans really are. ↗

— Jose Saramago

#always #appreciated #because #cliches #copies

Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political. ↗

— Ignazio Silone

#artistic #authority #doubting #even #experimenting

First would be the literary side, then the spiritual and philosophical. The political side is required principally because of the necessity of the current Russian position. ↗

— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

#current #first #literary #necessity #philosophical

No one in my family was a reader of literary fiction. So, I didn't have encouragement, but I didn't have discouragement, because I don't think anybody knew what that meant. ↗

— Amy Tan

#because #discouragement #encouragement #family #fiction

To Jana's mind everybody seemed happy to see BAbichka and resisted returning her, like a misplaced package sent to the wrong address. It was as if the recipient opened it up, knowing it should be returned, but wondering who long they could legitimately keep it before being changed with theft. ↗

— F.C. Malby

#literary-fiction #change

Some Critics on the Hearth are not only good-natured, but have rather too high, or, if that is impossible, let us say too pronounced, an opinion of the abilities of their literary friends. ↗

— James Payn

#friends #good-natured #hearth #high #impossible