Quotation device, n. A man whose memory surpasses his wit; whose conversation consists largely or exclusively of other people’s words. Cf. citation device.
Mar 022021
Reading
The dead alive and busy.
—Vaughan
Feb 102021
Analogously to Benford’s Law, 90% of the annotations in a used book occur in the first twenty pages.
Jan 072021
It doesn’t matter much which books you burn.
Nov 132020
Censorship, under more competent rule, would indicate something worth reading.
Oct 072020
Great literature inspires us to read; bad but celebrated literature inspires us to write.
Sep 022020
The Victorians used to tell us fiction rots the mind when in fact it rots the soul.
Aug 102020
We read, and imagine we can write; and write, and imagine we can think.
Jun 172020
So many readers seem delighted to find their own thoughts in an author; didn’t they hope for something better?
Feb 282020
The good reader blames himself first for obscurity, and to punish this habit with nonsense is worse than bad writing: it is depraved conduct.
Dec 232019
Intellectuals have to do a lot of hate-reading.