The great classic writers, it will be said, sought rather to proclaim universal truths than to leave their imprint on them.

The epic implications of being human end in more than this: We start our lives as if they were momentous stories, with a beginning, a middle and an appropriate end, only to find that they are mostly middles.

Anatole Broyard

There are three classes of men; lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain.

Plato

One travels long distances not solely for large gatherings, but for something more intangible. I have always gone out on a limb for love. A dangerous, romantic, disappointing way to live.

Jennifer Ball

Love is just a system for getting someone to call you darling after sex.

Julian Barnes

I am in favor of complete freedom of information and of free access to the new communication tools, in particular the Internet.

Omar Bongo

I don't know concretely if it's due to superstition, but any time a new rule is implemented into the NBA or a new piece of equipment or a new technology, there is always a transition and adjustment period by players and coaches and anyone involved with the game.

Stu Jackson

Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes, Literature answers. Are people good or bad? You bet, says Literature. But unlike other systems of knowing, Literature declines to eradicate one truth in favor of another.

George Saunders

Say what you want to say about the rest of his presidency, including his tone-deaf response to Katrina and a war waged in Iraq on false pretenses, Bush connected with Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 because he looked as frail and unforgiving as we felt.

Ron Fournier

Our American professors like their literature clear and cold and pure and very dead.

Sinclair Lewis

It's a truth universally acknowledged...

Jane Austen

Her face may have been the most beautiful female face I have ever seen. Yet, it was a beauty that was intimidating and overwhelming. It was an exquisiteness that made you want to turn and run, instead of approach.

Mandy Nachampassack-Maloney

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

Henry David Thoreau