When I think of all the harm [the Bible] has done, I despair of ever writing anything to equal it.

As for being poisoned by a book, there is no such thing as that. Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

Los libros que el mundo llama inmorales son los que le muestran al mundo su propia vergüenza.

A book or poem which has no pity in it had better not be written.

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

No publisher should ever express an opinion on the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary critic to decide. I can quite understand how any ordinary critic would be strongly prejudiced against a work that was accompanied by a premature and unnecessary panegyric from the publisher. A publisher is simply a useful middle-man. It is not for him to anticipate the verdict of criticism.

At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets.

What you read when you don't have to...