“A book is like a piece of rope; it takes on meaning only in connection with the things it holds together.”

— Norman Cousins

15 April 1978.
Saturday Review

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Norman Cousins 32

American journalist 1915–1990

Trenton Lee Stewart The Mysterious Benedict Society

Source: The Mysterious Benedict Society

“Faith has a saving connection with Christ. Christ is on the shore, so to speak, holding the rope, and as we lay hold of it with the hand of our confidence, He pulls us to shore; but all good works having no connection with Christ are drifted along down the gulf of fell despair.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 228.

“Take away the love and the anger,
And a little piece of hope holding us together.
Looking for a moment that'll never happen,
Living in the gap between past and future.”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)
Context: Take away the love and the anger,
And a little piece of hope holding us together.
Looking for a moment that'll never happen,
Living in the gap between past and future.
Take away the stone and the timber,
And a little piece of rope won't hold it together.

“It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.”

Haruki Murakami book Norwegian Wood

Source: Norwegian Wood

“It is a magic book. Words mean things. When you put them together they speak.”

Samuel R. Delany book Equinox

Equinox (1973)
Context: It is a magic book. Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind. (p. 163)