“A great piece of literature does not try to coerce you to believe it or agree with it. A great piece of literature simply is.
It is a vehicle of truth, but it is not a blueprint, and we tend to confuse the two.”

“Mr. McGregor's a nasty piece of work, isn't he? Quite the Darth Vader of children's literature.”

“A real author gets his best pieces of literature from narrow alleys and dirty houses”

“A great speech is literature.”

“All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.”

“This letter, if judged by the novelty and profundity of ideas it contains, is perhaps the most substantial piece of writing in the whole literature of mankind.”

“The 'greatness' of literature cannot be determined solely by literary standards; though we must remember that whether it is literature or not can be determined only by literary standards.”

“The earth is a great piece of stupidity.”

“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”

“The great standard of literature as to purity and exactness of style is the Bible.”