Over 40,000 Famous Quotes Sorted By Topic and Author

It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.

Thank you for sending me a copy of your book - I'll waste no time reading it.

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

Avarice, envy, pride. Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of all on Fire.

This life's dim windows of the soul. Distorts the heavens from pole to pole. And leads you to believe a lie when you see with, not through, the eye.

'Tis an old saying, the Devil lurks behind the cross. All is not gold that glitters. From the tail of the plough, Bamba was made King of Spain; and from his silks and riches was Rodrigo cast to be devoured by the snakes.

Oh, thou hast a damnable iteration, and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me Hal, God forgive thee for it. Before I knew thee Hal, I knew nothing, and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even though they bring gifts.

Oh you who are born of the blood of the gods, Trojan son of Anchises, easy is the descent to hell; the door of dark Dis stands open day and night. But to retrace your steps and come out to the air above, that is work, that is labor!

'That is indisputable,' was the answer, 'but in this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.'

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.

I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.

Writing is manual labor of the mind: a job, like laying pipe.

Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie.

Rice Krispies happens to be one of my favorite junk foods, just as I regard Michener as superior among junk writers.

The fact that writers will go through so much to remain writers says something, perhaps everything. It would be far easier to become a real estate agent.

We breathe, we think, we conceive of our lives as narratives.