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

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

The most beautiful prose paragraph yet written by any American.

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.

A superb and dreadfully moving account of the glory and subsequent murder by the Romanians of the Jewish city in Odessa. . . . Odessa is both celebration and lament and equally impressive as both.

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something.

Your future will definitely head to the same direction with your thoughts

To experience a great result is for everyone to be part of extending the reign of God’s love

I'm aware of how unprofessional this is and yet I can't stop myself.

At eight or nine, I suppose intelligence is no more than a small spot of light on the floor of a large and murky room.

The habeas corpus business, that's to show that he [Bill Clinton] is not tough on crime.

When I am tempted to complain about God's lack of presence, I remind myself that God has much more reason to complain about my lack of presence.

Love will fly if held too lightly Love will die if held too tightly . . .

It is for women to come forward and choose the path of sacrifice for serving the nation.

I could never kill myself. What if it doesn't work. Then I'll have failed at the only thing that could save me from my failures. Where do you go from there?