Most books, like their authors, are born to die; of only a few books can it be said that death has no dominion over them; they live, and their influence lives forever.

Every writer since the beginning of time, just like other people, has been afflicted by what [a] friend of mine calls "the fleas of life"-you know, colds, hangovers, bills, sprained ankles and little nuisances of one sort or another.

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.

How some of the writers I come across get through their books without dying of boredom is beyond me.

The readers and the hearers like my books, But yet some writers cannot them digest; But what care I? For when I make a feast I would my guests should praise it, not the cooks