How I'll be Furnishing My New House

Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house. -- Henry Ward Beecher, abolitionist (1813 - 1887)

Twain on Good Books

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

The Truth of It

Found this quote via Regina Doman:

"A good novel tells the truth about the hero; but a bad novel tells the truth about the author."
-- G.K. Chesterton

Groucho Marx: Reading Fanatic

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
-- Groucho Marx

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
-- Groucho Marx

Our World is Filled with Dragons

It does not pay to leave a dragon out of your calculations if you live near him.
-- J. R. R. Tolkien

Heart, Mind, Soul, and Books

Oh, how true:

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
-- Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

For more quotes about books visit the Books Quotation Page.

Lewis on Writing

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
-- C. S. Lewis

Gilbert on Storytelling

Thank you Nancy Brown for sending this quote. Imagine, Nancy sending a Chesterton quote. The mind boggles.

The truth is, in other words, that there never was a scheme nearer to the deepest reality of life than that of the old romance of chivalry. If we must have a merely elementary statement of essential religion, that is the right outline of the story: that Man is sent forth by an authority that is good, like King Arthur or a fairy godmother, into a world that is wonderful, but contains dangers and temptations, like dragons and wizards; that he is sent upon a quest or trial; that is, that he is judged by the same authority that sent him forth. That is the story at the heart of all healthy life and literature; and it is quite true that people who are healthy can sometimes act on it without arguing it out. But if they argue it out, they will find it implies certain dogmas; as that there is a design, that it is a benevolent design, but that it does allow of free will, and makes the good a matter of choice. Those who thought they could hold that healthy romance for ever, merely by being healthy and without holding any of the dogmas that justify it, are more and more finding out their mistake. Hence, when they are asked to state what they really do believe about life, they become "desperately vague." And they have now reached the point where it is not only more and more difficult to state a creed, but even more and more difficult to tell a story.
--G. K. Chesterton

If you have a favorite literature-related quote, send it to me. If I like it, I'll post it on the blog. Hey, it may even make it's way into the new book.

Chesterton on Books

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read.
-- G.K. Chesterton