In the finest critics one hears the full cry of the human. They tell one why it matters to read.

Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable.

The most beautiful prose paragraph yet written by any American.

We read, frequently if not unknowingly, in search of a mind more original than our own.

I realized early on that the academy and the literary world alike

It is hard to go on living without some hope of encountering the extraordinary.

Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on the stage everywhere. Everyone feels that they are represented by him on the stage.

At our present bad moment, we need above all to recover our sense of literary individuality and of poetic autonomy.

Read deeply, not to believe, not to accept, not to contradict, but to learn to share in that one nature that writes and reads.

Reading well is one of the greatest pleasures that solitude can afford you.

The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers.

In a constructive policy, there is ‘adjust everywhere’ and in a destructive policy, there is a policy of disadjustment.

What can I do?” his gaze on me was intense, like I was some sort of love guru or something. I almost laughed out loud at how unqualified I was for that position.

All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.

I enjoy bathing, as many Europeans don't.

Overall I enjoy a certain anonymity. I live a very normal, very ordinary life.

It doesn't bother me because I can tell everyone to kiss off.

As I get older, I'm finding that I recognize certain celebrities only because they frequently grace the pages of US Weekly, but beyond that, I have no idea what they do.

I am gonna try again and again, because the moment I give up, is the moment I fail.

Those who labor for bread or money alone are condemned to their reward.

Needless to say, you've got to have someone who can speak for you.