Quotes about Authors

The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.

"At last, psychology gets serious about glee, fun, and happiness. Martin Seligman has given us a gift--a practical map for the perennial quest for a flourishing life."

~ Daniel Goleman, author of "Emotional Intelligence," commenting on "Authentic Happiness" by Martin Seligman

To be authentic literally means to be your own author.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.

There is a good saying to the effect that when a new book appears one should read an old one. As as author I would not recommend too strict an adherence to this saying.

The two most engaging powers of an author are t' make new things familiar and familiar things new.

Could he with reason murmur at his case, Himself sole author of his own disgrace?

Surely it was time someone invented a new plot, or that the author came out from the bushes.

God does nothing vain. When He gives a power, it is for a purpose, it is that it may reach an end. Now what I argue is this: Since He has put in my soul a germ that can grow to eternity, He means that it shall grow to eternity. -Author Unknown

In order to carry any amount of weight, it seems that a quotation must be from an author of national or universal importance. Nevertheless, one often finds, hidden away in an obscure paragraph in a newspaper or magazine a gem of wisdom that deserves much greater prominence.

Whom God wishes to destroy he first deprives of reason. The author of this saying is unknown. Barnes erroneously ascribes it to Euripides.

I care not whether I am dying or not; for if I die I shall be with God; if I live, He will be with me. -Author Unknown

Quite a number of people also describe the German classical author, Shakespeare as belonging to the English literature, because - quite accidentally born at Stratford-on-Avon, he was forced by the authorities of that country to write in English.

The relationship of editor to author is knife to throat.

The author should die once he has finished writing. So as not to trouble the path of the text.

When we read of human beings behaving in certain ways, with the approval of the author, who gives his benediction to this behavior by his attitude towards the result of the behavior arranged by himself, we can be influenced towards behaving in the same way.

When authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on the ridiculous.

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of American Independence, Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, And Father of the University of Virginia.

The test of an author is not to be found merely in the number of his phrases that pass current in the corner of newspapers . . . but in the number of passages that have really taken root in younger minds.

Some time ago a member of my family sent to me a critical article written by Mr. Edmund Fuller in a publication called Saturday Review. The criticism of the writer is directed against the effort made to satisfy what the author designates as "general religious hunger," with books, articles, and public appearances of nationally advertised individuals, carrying on a propaganda for what is characterized as (these are quotes) "the good life," "peace of mind," "positive thinking," and "successful" or "confident living." What the author objects to most strenuously is not so much that propaganda should be issued for the optimism of "peace of mind" and "positive thinking," but that this psychological optimism should be held out in any form as an interpretation of or a substitute for the real Christian religion.

I have read and heard a good many statements by eminent writers and speakers to the effect that our liberty of which we are justly proud is an achievement, and not a gift. In the sense that it had to be worked for, fought for, and preserved with vigilance these statements are true. But let it never be forgotten that our concept of liberty is a gift. No human is the author of that concept. Many great men have so recognized it as did Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence and declared that "men are endowed with certain inalienable rights." Why are these rights inalienable? Because men did not create the right to liberty! In the exercise of his free agency he may surrender his privileges, and his property, and he may become the slave of others or of the state, but his free agency is as native to him as the air he breathes. It is part and parcel of his eternal constitution, and Jefferson was "righter than I think he himself knew" when he declared it an endowment which cannot be alienated. The message which we bear affirms that God is the Author of our inalienable liberty; that men, all men are of noble lineage, sons and daughters of the Eternal Father; and that liberty is their birthright. I thank God that . . . noble men were blessed with this lofty concept of man's inherent right to liberty and that they were prompted to incorporate these divine principles in the organic law and history of our favored land.

Not pickt from the leaves of any author, but bred amongst the weeds and tares of mine own brain.

Times have changed since a certain author was executed for murdering his publisher. They say that when the author was on the scaffold he said good-bye to the minister and to the reporters, and then he saw some publishers sitting in the front row below, and to them he did not say good-bye. He said instead, "I'll see you again."

The latest authors, like the most ancient, strove to subordinate the phenomena of nature to the laws of mathematics.

A work of art has an author and yet, when it is perfect, it has something which is anonymous about it.

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

Why are not more gems from our great authors scattered over the country . . . .Let every bookworm, when in any fragrant, scarce, old tome he discovers a sentence, a story, an illustration, that does his heart good, hasten to give it.

Time is of no account with great thoughts. They are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds, ages ago.

Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature. Of Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788), actor, lecturer, and author:

Abuse is often of service. There is nothing so dangerous to an author as silence. His name, like the shuttlecock, must be beat backward and forward, or it falls to the ground.