J.A. > J.A.'s Quotes

“It’s great to remember that reading is my first love.”
― Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays

“Reading would make me brilliant, but writing would make me infinite.”
― Gabby Rivera, Juliet Takes a Breath

“All language is but a poor translation.”
― Franz Kafka

“The sound of the pages turning was the sound of magic. The dry liquid feel of paper under fingertips was what magic felt like.”
― Emma Donoghue, Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.”
― Cornelia Funke, Inkspell

“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, "No, I don't want to watch TV!" Raise your voice -- they won't hear you otherwise -- "I'm reading! I don't want to be disturbed!" Maybe they haven't heard you, with all that racket; speak louder, yell: "I'm beginning to read Italo Calvino's new novel!" Or if you prefer, don't say anything: just hope they'll leave you alone.”
― Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

“Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them.”
― Cornelia Funke, Inkheart

“The books gave Matilda a comforting message: You are not alone." -Matilda”
― Roald Dahl

“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

“If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“People label themselves with all sorts of adjectives. I can only pronounce myself as 'nauseatingly miserable beyond repair'.”
― Franz Kafka, Diaries, 1910-1923

“Libraries are safe but also exciting. Libraries are where nerds like me go to refuel. They are safe-havens where the polluted noise of the outside world, with all the bullies and bro-dudes and anti-feminist rhetoric, is shut out. Libraries have zero tolerance for bullshit. Their walls protect us and keep us safe from all the bastards that have never read a book for fun.”
― Gabby Rivera

“One of my biggest weaknesses, one that has always shamed me, is that I have always been lonely. I’ve struggled to make friends because I can be socially awkward, because I’m weird, because I live in my head.”
― Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays