“One man is as good as another until he has written a book.”
Benjamin Jowett (1817–1893) Theologian, classical scholar, and academic administrator
Letters
“One man is as good as another until he has written a book.”
Benjamin Jowett (1817–1893) Theologian, classical scholar, and academic administrator
Letters
“It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.”
Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist
An Apology for the Devil
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIV - Higgledy-Piggledy
Source: The Note Books of Samuel Butler
William Gibson (1948) American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder of the cyberpunk subgenre
No Maps for These Territories (2000)
Theodore Dalrymple (1949) English doctor and writer
Trash, Violence, and Versace: But Is It Art? http://www.city-journal.org/html/8_1_urbanities-trash.html (Winter 1998). <br class="br">City Journal (1998 - 2008)
Sidney Morgenbesser (1921–2004) American philosopher
The Independent, The Independent, Professor Sidney Morgenbesser: Philosopher celebrated for his withering New York Jewish humour http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-sidney-morgenbesser-550224.html, 6 August 2004. The Times, Sidney Morgenbesser: Erudite and influential American linguistic philosopher with the analytical acuity of Spinoza and the blunt wit of Groucho Marx https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sidney-morgenbesser-5cz8gg8qfvm, September 8, 2004.
Matta El Meskeen (1919–2006) Egyptian monk
Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way
Novalis book Blüthenstaub
Fragment No. 104; on Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).
Blüthenstaub (1798)
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Variant: There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray
William Golding (1911–1993) British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
As quoted in Novelists in Interview (1985) edited by John Haffenden