“Hebrews. This book is much superior to most of the writings attributed to St. Paul, though passages in the other books are very admirable.”

“This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit.”

“The exercise of letters is sometimes linked to the ambition to construct an absolute book, a book of books that includes the others like a Platonic archetype, an object whose virtues are not diminished by the passage of time.”

“I don't write a book so that it will be the final word; I write a book so that other books are possible, not necessarily written by me.”

“A very useful book might be written with the sole object of advising what parts of what books should be read. It should not be a book of elegant extracts, but should merely refer to the passages which are advised to be read. It might also indicate what are the chief works upon any given subject. For example, take rent; the important passages in Adam Smith, Ricardo, Jones, Mill, and other writers, should be referred to.”

“It would be foolhardy to swell the pages of this book with an exhaustive list of Greco-Hebrew differences. Everyone knows that Homer is very different from the Bible.”

“That wonderful book, while it obtains admiration from the most fastidious critics, is loved by those who are too simple to admire it.”

“The two things I enjoy the most about writing are the first page of a book and the last. What's in between is very hard work.”

“Having books published is very destructive to writing. It is even worse than making love too much. Because when you make love too much at least you get a damned clarte that is like no other light. A very clear and hollow light.”

“It's much more entertaining to live books than to write them.”