Quotessence
Home / Topics / Reader Quotes

Reader Quotes

Browse 3935 quotes about Reader.

Related topics

BookWritingIfsThinkingReadingStoriesPeopleWantWayKnowsWorldCharacterNovelShouldFeelsTryingGivingFirstsMindKindFictionWellsPagesLiteratureMayNeedsWrittenBelieveMeanImportantMightTwoLittlesEndsI CanRealPoetYearsIdeasMadeMenHas BeensHeartLongDoeLooksFactsPersonsCertainDifferentLanguageChildrenArtMatterSeemsUseHumansDoneEnoughFeelingsImaginationInterestWould BeSometimesHardStillsWantedAbleFormHappensLinesMomentsHandsYoungBigsCareHelpingSaidAsksAudiencePleasureSubjectsTurnsSelfCoursesEyeInterestingJobsAgeEnjoyWholeReasonAttentionLibraryKidsOrderMovingThreeTogetherGivenmore

Reader Quotes

“The Novelist As Teacher”: “I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past – with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them.”

IfsFirstsLongWould BePastNightActingTeachNovelTeacherReaderSatisfiedNovelistsImperfectionBehalfSavageryLong Nights
Book:Things Fall Apart: Authoritative Text, Contexts and Criticism
Create image

“What are the hallmarks of a competent writer of fiction? The first, it seems to me, is that he should be immensely interested in human beings, and have an eye sharp enough to see into them, and a hand clever enough to draw them as they are. The second is that he should be able to set them in imaginary situations which display the contents of their psyches effectively, and so carry his reader swiftly and pleasantly from point to point of what is called a good story.”

ShouldFirstsHumansEnoughStoriesHandsSeemsEyeAbleHuman BeingsFictionSituationReaderDrawsCleverDisplayImaginaryCompetentGood StoryHallmarkPsych
Author:H. L. Mencken
Create image

“There are all sorts of theories and ideas about what constitutes a good opening line. It's tricky thing, and tough to talk about because I don't think conceptually while I work on a first draft -- I just write. To get scientific about it is a little like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. But there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.”

ThinkingKnowsWantShouldWritingTryingFirstsLittlesIdeasStoriesLinesOne ThingTheoryReaderToughOpeningInvitesTrickyJarsMoonbeams
Author:Stephen King
Create image

“Looking back on the long-stretched-out body of one's work, it is interesting to mark the endless duel fought within a man between the emotional and critical sides of his nature, first one, then the other, getting the upper hand, and too seldom fusing till the result has the mellowness of full achievement. One can even tell the nature of one's readers, by their preference for the work which reveals more of this side than of that.”

MenFirstsLongBodyHandsSidesInterestingResultsEmotionalReaderAchievementMarkCriticalEndlessWorking ItLooking BackPreferenceUpper Hand
Author:John Galsworthy
Create image

“The appeal of the spectrally macabre is generally narrow because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from every-day life. Relatively few are free enough from the spell of the daily routine to respond to rappings from outside, and tales of ordinary feelings and events, or of common sentimental distortions of such feelings and events, will always take first place in the taste of the majority; rightly, perhaps, since of course these ordinary matters make up the greater part of human experience.”

FirstsHumansMatterEnoughFeelingsCertainCoursesImaginationCommonGreaterEventsReaderTasteDemandDegreesOrdinaryCapacityMajorityRapTalesAppealsRoutineSpellsSentimentalHuman ExperienceDetachmentDistortionDay LifeDaily RoutinesMacabre
Book:H.P. Lovecraft: The Ultimate Collection (160 Works Including Early Writings, Fiction, Collaborations, Poetry, Essays & Bonus Audiobook Links)
Create image

“As far as I know, Clifford Pickover is the first mathematician to write a book about areas where math and theology overlap. Are there mathematical proofs of God? Who are the great mathematicians who believed in a deity? Does numerology lead anywhere when applied to sacred literature? Pickover covers these and many other off-trail topics with his usual verve, humor, and clarity. And along the way the reader will learn a great deal of serious mathematics.”

KnowsWayWritingFirstsDoeBookLiteratureDealsSeriousReaderAreasMathematicsSacredMathProofTheologyClarityMathematicalUsualMathematicianTopicsTrailsDeitiesProof Of GodMathematical ProofNumerology
Author:Martin Gardner
Create image

“Study your reader first - your product second. If you understand his reactions, and present those phases of your product that relate to his needs, then you cannot help but write a good letter.”

IfsNeedsWritingFirstsHelpingStudyProductsReaderLettersReactionsRelatePhases
Book:Robert Collier Copywriting Course - Masters of Marketing Secrets: Learn to Write Sales Letters That Pay
Create image

“The first class of readers may be compared to an hour-glass, their reading being as the sand; it runs in and runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class resembles a sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtier. A third class is like a jelly-bag, which allows all that is pure to pass away, and retains only the refuse and dregs. The fourth class may be compared to the slave of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worthless, preserves only the pure gems.”

FirstsMayLittlesStatesRunningReadingHoursBehindsClassReturnReaderPureThirdsSlaveGlassesRefusePreservesSandBagsFourthWorthlessCastingPassing AwayGemsFirst ClassSpongesJellyDregsHour Glasses
Author:Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Create image

“Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This pleases me. When I was young I longed to write a great novel that should win me fame. Now that I am getting old my first book is written to amuse children. For aside from my evident inability to do anything "great," I have learned to regard fame as a will-o-the-wisp which, when caught, is not worth the possession; but to please a child is a sweet and lovely thing that warms one's heart and brings its own reward.”

ShouldWritingFirstsHeartChildrenBookYoungWinningImaginationNovelWonderfulWrittenSweetReaderPleaseFameRegardRewardsCaughtPossessionLovelyDevelopingI Have LearnedEvidentInabilityGetting OldPlease MeLovely ThingsWispsGreat Novels
Author:L. Frank Baum
Create image

“I remember how surprised I was when my first novel was about to be published and I was informed that I could be sued for anything any one of my characters said. 'But I often don't agree with what they say,' I protested. The lawyer was not interested in the clear distinction I make between my own voice and the voices of my characters. Neither, I have found, are many of my readers.”

FirstsSaidCharacterRememberFoundVoiceMy OwnNovelClearReaderAgreeLawyerDistinctionNot Interested
Book:Outlander: Short Stories and Essays
Create image

“here are the top three global resources getting scarcer in the twenty-first century: ozone layer, rain forest, people eager to read the fiction of others. That's right, folks. For the first time in I believe written history, there are far more fiction writers on earth than fiction readers.”

PeopleFirstsBelieveBookEarthThreeReadingI BelieveFictionWrittenCenturyReaderResourcesFirst TimeRainTwentiesFolksForestsLayersBook ReadingFiction WritersOzoneOzone LayerWritten History
Book:A Year in Van Nuys
Create image

“To what or whom does Lizzie Harris direct the imperative title of her startling first book, Stop Wanting? To the reader, the narrator, to desire itself, or to lack? This is a work of complexly, ambiguously layered narratives and identities. The opening poem asserts I want to say what happened / but am suspicious of stories. These lines become an ars poetica for the whole of this painful and exceptional collection in which the unspeakable is stubbornly confronted by a searing eloquence. This is a commanding debut.”

WantFirstsDoeBookWholeStoriesDesireLinesHappenedIdentityReaderDirectPainfulOpeningNarrativeTitlesCollectionsExceptionalImperativesSuspiciousEloquenceUnspeakableDebutNarrators
Author:Lynn Emanuel
Create image

“I am a reader, a flashlight-under-the-covers, carries-a-book-everywhere-I-go​, don't-look-at-my-Amazon-bill. I choose purses based on whether I can cram a paperback into them, and my books are the first items I pack into a suitcase. I am the person who family and friends call when they need a book recommendation or cannot remember who wrote Heidi. My identity as a person is so entwined with my love of reading and books that I cannot separate the two.”

NeedsFirstsLooksPersonsI CanTwoBookRememberReadingIdentityReaderBillsCarriePacksFamily And FriendsItemsPursesAmazonRecommendationsSuitcasesLove Of ReadingFlashlightsEntwinedHeidi
Author:Donalyn Miller
Create image

“I seem to have three categories of readers. The first is nonbelievers who are glad that I am reading the Bible so they don't have to bother. The second group, which is quite large, is very Biblically literate Jews. And the third, which is also very large, is Christians, most of them evangelical. The evangelical readers and the Jewish readers have generally been very encouraging, because they appreciate someone taking the book they love so seriously, and actually reading it and grappling with it.”

FirstsBookSeemsChristianThreeReadingGroupsReaderAppreciateThirdsJewGladBotherCategoriesEvangelicalGrapplingReading The Bible
Author:David Plotz
Create image

“Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion is talking to them; so thathe insinuates his sentiments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases everybody from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relished.”

IfsWritingMindFirstsBodyLightSeemsStrongTalkingTeacherWiseInfluenceStyleReaderPleaseTasteDegreesWineEaseGentlemanFancyAccomplishedAweChairsCompanionAdmirationSentimentsImpressedJohnsonEloquenceLiquor
Book:The life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: comprehending an account of his studies and numerous works, in chronological order; a series of his epistolary correspondence; and conversations with many eminent persons ...
Create image

“In literary representation, the distinction between the genuinely erotic and the licentious is a distinction not of subject-matter, but of perspective. The genuinely erotic work is one which invites the reader to re-create in imagination the first-person point of view of someone party to an erotic encounter. The pornographic work retains as a rule the third-person perspective of the voyeuristic observer.”

FirstsPersonsMatterImaginationViewsPartySubjectsPerspectiveReaderThirdsPoint Of ViewEncountersDistinctionInvitesRepresentationObserversPornographyEroticSubject MatterFirst PersonThird Person
Book:Sexual Desire: A Philosophical Investigation
Create image

“Reading Tomato Red-the first Daniel Woodrell novel I came upon-was a transformative experience. It expanded my sense of the possibilities not only of crime fiction, but of fiction itself-of language, of storytelling. Time and again, his work just dazzles and humbles me. God bless Busted Flush for these glorious reissues. It's a service to readers everywhere, and a great gift.”

FirstsReadingLanguageFictionNovelCrimePossibilityReaderRedStorytellingGloriousBlessGod BlessCrime FictionTomatoesGreat GiftsDazzleBusted
Author:Megan Abbott
Create image

“We with my husband [Joseph Millar] are often the first reader for one another's work, and we often also have the last word. We trust each other. We have our past working life in common, our recombined families, as well as our life as teachers, and we read much of the same literature and have similar esthetics, so there's a simpatico there. But we do disagree and that can be fruitful, even if it's not so great in the moment.”

IfsFirstsWellsMomentsLastsPastLiteratureCommonTeacherOur LivesReaderHusbandMy HusbandDisagreeOur PastLast WordsWorking LifeSimpatico
Author:Dorianne Laux
Create image

“That is as true for fiction or non-fiction. The writer has to really know their subject. It is really important to remember that the readers are a lot smarter than the writer. Also, good writing has to do with rewriting. You will never get it right the first time. So you rewrite and rewrite again until you get it right. Until you, and the reader, will be able to visualize what you're writing about.”

KnowsWritingFirstsImportantAbleRememberFictionSubjectsReaderFirst TimeSmarterNon FictionGood WritingRewriting
Author:Michael Scott
Create image

“Write what you want to read. So many people think they need to write a particular kind of book, or imitate a successful style, in order to be published. I've known people who felt they had to model their book on existing blockbusters, or write in a genre that's supposed to be "hot right now" in order to get agents and publishers interested. But if you're writing in a genre you don't like, or modeling yourself on a book you don't respect, it'll show through. You're your first, most important reader, so write the book that reader really wants to read.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWantNeedsWritingFirstsKindImportantBookShowsOrderFeltKnownSuccessfulStyleParticularReaderRight NowModelsHotWhat You WantAgentsSupposed To BeGenrePublishersModelingBlockbuster
Author:Cassandra Clare
Create image

“I wanted to do something different. Therefore, the first person I thought would have been too exclusionary. It would have said me, me, me, me, me. I, I, I, I, I. As if I were pushing away my experiences from the experiences of others. Because basically what I was trying to do was show our commonality. I mean to say, in the very ordinariness of what I recount I think perhaps the reader will find resonances with his or her own life.”

IfsThinkingTryingFirstsMeanPersonsHas BeensSaidDifferentShowsWantedReaderPushingFirst PersonResonanceCommonalityOrdinarinessPushing Away
Author:Paul Auster
Create image

“My wife is my first reader, my first line of defence I suppose. So she says, "Oh well, oh yes, it's all true." At the same time, I could have written much more about us, but I didn't want to go any further. I did cut things out. There are certain things that I wrote about her that are so gushing with praise and admiration that when I looked at those passages I realised they would be ridiculous to anybody else.”

WantFirstsWellsWould BeCertainLinesCuttingWifeWrittenReaderPraiseMy WifeRidiculousAdmirationPassagesDefenceRealisedOh Well
Author:Paul Auster
Create image

“I got a rejection letter from an editor at HarperCollins, who included a report from his professional reader. This report shredded my first-born novel, laughed at my phrasing, twirled my lacy pretensions around and gobbed into the seething mosh pit of my stolen clichés. As I read the report, the world became very quiet and stopped rotating. What poisoned me was the fact that the report's criticisms were all absolutely true. The sound of my landlady digging in the garden got the world moving again. I slipped the letter into the trash... knowing I'd remember every word.”

WorldWritingFirstsFactsRememberMovingSoundBornNovelKnowingReaderQuietGardenCriticismLettersRejectionReportsEditorsLaughedStolenTrashPitsDiggingPretensionSeethingRotatingRejection Letters
Author:David Mitchell
Create image