“The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts.”— M. H. Abrams
“Literature is a vital part of the culture; it is one of the ways in which a society constitutes itself.”— M. H. Abrams
“Biography is a very definite region of the literary map, with its own rules and its own wildernesses.”— Peter Ackroyd
“I think that there's a tradition of American writers who are mavericks, who are not part of the literary establishment.”— Eric Bogosian
“Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.”— J. G. Ballard
“What is a classic? A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”— Jacques Barzun
“Science fiction, outside of poetry, is the only literary field which has no limits, no parameters whatsoever.”— Willy Ley
“It is sincerely hoped, that the pains which have been taken to render this work unobjectionable, will be found to have been not ill bestowed.”— Thomas Bowdler