In literature, as in life, one is often astonished by what is chosen by others.
literaturequotes
But truth is not the only merit that a metaphysic can possess. It may have beauty, and this is certainly to be found in Plotinus; there are passages that remind one of the later cantos of Dante’s Para-diso, and of almost nothing else in literature.
Dante / literature / Metaphysic / Plotinus / truth
My advice to anyone who wishes to write is to know all the very best literature by heart, and ignore the rest as completely as possible.
advice / literature / write
Payment and reserved copyright are at bottom the ruin of literature. Only he who writes entirely for the sake of what he has to say writes anything worth writing. It is as if there were a curse on money: every writer writes badly as soon as he starts writing for gain.
copyright / curse / literature / Payment / writer
My job is unbearable to me because it conflicts with my only desire and my only calling, which is literature. Since I am nothing but literature and can and want to be nothing else, my job will never take possession of me, it may, however, shatter me completely, and this is by no means a remote possibility.
desire / job / literature / shatter
All I am is literature, and I am not able or willing to be anything else.
The creation by word-power of something out of nothing – what is that but magic? And, may I add, what is that but literature?
Every man’s memory is his private literature.
In a way, literature is true than life,’ he said to himself. ‘On paper, you say exactly and completely what you feel. How easy it is to break things off on paper! You hate, you shout, you kill, you commit suicide; you carry things to the very end. And that’s why it’s false. But it’s damned satisfying. In life, you’re constantly denying yourself, and others are always contradicting you. On paper, I make time stand still and I impose my convictions on the whole world; they become the only reality.