Difficult Books Quotes

When book and reader's furrowed brow meet, it isn't always the book that's stupid. ~ William H Gass

And then there are the subway readers of difficult books. I like to imagine that New Yorkers are more literate than the riders of other American metropolises. ~ Sari Botton

The current publishing scene is extremely good for the big, popular books. They sell them brilliantly, market them and all that. It is not good for the little books. And really valuable books have been allowed to go out of print. In the old days, the publishers knew that these difficult books, the books that appeal only to a minority, were very productive in the long run. Because they're probably the books that will be read in the next generation. ~ Doris Lessing

My mother taught me that reading is a kind of work, and that every paragraph merits exertion, and in this way, I learned how to absorb difficult books. Soon after I went to kindergarten, however, I learned that reading difficult books also brings trouble. I was punished for reading ahead of the class, for being unwilling to speak and act "nicely." I didn't know why I simultaneously feared and adored my female teachers, but I did know that I needed their attention ~ Hope Jahren

Part of it may be that translators are paid by the word, so the more carefully they work on a translation, the less they are paid for their time, which means that if they are very careful they may not earn much. And often, the more interesting or unusual the book, the more painstaking they have to be. For one or two difficult books, I took so long over each page that I earned less than a dollar an hour. But I'm not sure this explains why so many people do not respect translators or would simply prefer not to think about them. ~ Lydia Davis

If anything I try to write something that would be more difficult to film. I tend to see film as competition and would like instead to do what books do best. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

I have had my say, as he wished. Now the book belongs, as he points out, to the world he claims to speak for. ~ Julian Darius

Socrates could enjoy a banquet now and again, and must have derived considerable satisfaction from his conversations while the hemlock was taking effect, but most of his life he lived quietly with Xanthippe, taking a constitutional in the afternoon, and perhaps meeting with a few friends by the way. Kant is said never to have been more than ten miles from Konigsberg in all his life. Darwin, after going round the world, spent the whole rest of his life in his own house. Marx, after stirring up a few revolutions, decided to spend the remainder of his days in the British Museum. Altogether it will be found that a quiet life is characteristic of great men, and that their pleasures have not been of the sort that would look exciting to the outward eye. No great achievement is possible without persistent work, so absorbing and so difficult that little energy is left over for the more strenuous kinds of amusement, except such as serve to recuperate physical energy during holidays, of which Alpine climbing may serve as the best example. ~ Bertrand Russell

You read and read the material and after you've read the twentieth article you can't make any sense out of it anymore, and then you start thinking about the number of books that are published in any given year, in any given month, in any given week, and that's just too much. Words,' he said, looking in my direction finally but with his eyes strangely unfocussed, as though he was really looking at a point several inches beneath my skin, 'are beginning to lose their meanings.' The ~ Margaret Atwood

The toughest part of acting is never a single thing. It's more like a whole character. I find film really difficult - trying to make it feel like a consistent character when you're filming everything out of order. ~ Carey Mulligan

Many of the books I read, I had to read them in French, English, or Italian, because they hadn't been translated into Spanish. ~ Antonio Munoz Molina

Of course the Premier League is the most difficult league in the world because it's so even. I think you can't really compare other leagues with the Premier League. In the Premier League, every team can beat every team, and in football, that's something where you can have surprises. ~ Mesut Ozil

Meeting writers is usually disappointing, at best. Writers who write sexy thrillers aren't necessarily sexy or thrilling in person. Children's book writers might look more like accountants, or axe murderers for that matter. Horror writers are very rarely scary looking, although they are frequently good cooks. ~ Kelly Link

When we soak our soul in the grace of the Gospel, we'll find our desire to spend time with Him in prayer changing. We'll begin to carry on a nonstop conversation with Him in our heart because we know that He loves to hear our voice. Then, when we are faced with a difficult decision, we will be comfortable running to Him. "Lord, I need wisdom." "Lord, I know You're here. Help me to see You. Give me grace!" That'll be our heart's frequent cry. Because the Holy Spirit loves to make Jesus grand in our eyes, He'll nurture, train, and remind us of His gracious condescension. ~ Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

I can't believe I ever thought reading to her was a chore. I'd sit here some nights, fidgeting, thinking of all the things I needed to do, my voice hoarse, reluctant to read, 'just one more chapter,' wishing I could escape to my glass of wine. What did I have to do that was so important? What could be more important than reading my daughter a bedtime story? ~ Sanjida Kay

The real proof that I have tried to love and that people have tried to love me back was never going to fit in a kitchen drawer. ~ Sloane Crosley

Anxiety and depression, and the physical symptoms they cause, are merely distractions and smokescreens to "protect" you from dangers, which are usually, imaginary. ~ Charles F. Glassman

There is superficiality to Hollywood, and yes, it is charming. Of course there is sunshine, but there is also a dark side. It's a difficult place if you don't know people, and if you can't drive, you will find it lonely. You have to create your own bubble. ~ Amanda Eliasch

It is so difficult in the world for people to find love, true love. ~ LaToya Jackson

Be thankful for problems. If they were less difficult, someone with less ability might have your job. ~ Jim Lovell

Communication ... it is a difficult optimisation. Structurally, it gets founded over words, organised around thoughts. Words are difficult to come through, successfully, amid the thought process. The thought process in right manifestation gives rise to communication. ~ Priyavrat Thareja

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement. Yes, I'm a writer, but I live in this world, and my writing doesn't exist on a separate level. And if people know who I am and read my books, well, good; that way, if I have something more to say, then everyone benefits. ~ Jose Saramago

You've got to be strong enough for love. It's very easy to be cool and cynical. It's very difficult to just let yourself go and be in love. You've got to be strong enough for that. ~ Noel Gallagher

I spent the afternoon in a bookstore. There were no books in it. None had been printed for nearly half a century. And how I have looked forward to them, after the micro films that made up the library of the Prometheus! No such luck. No longer was it possible to browse among shelves, to weigh volumes in hand, to feel their heft, the promise of ponderous reading. The bookstore resembled, instead, an electronic laboratory. The books were crystals with recorded contents. They can be read the aid of an opton, which was similar to a book but had only one page between the covers. At a touch, successive pages of the text appeared on it. But optons were little used, the sales-robot told me. The public preferred lectons - like lectons read out loud, they could be set to any voice, tempo, and modulation. ~ Stanislaw Lem

I grew up in the midst of poverty but every black kid that I knew could read and write. We have to talk about the fact that we cannot educate for critical consciousness if we have a group of people who cannot access Fanon, Cabral, or Audre Lorde because they can't read or write. How did Malcolm X radicalize his consciousness? He did it through books. If you deprive working-class and poor black people of access to reading and writing, you are making them that much farther removed from being a class that can engage in revolutionary resistance. ~ Bell Hooks

Survivors have a difficult time expressing their feelings. They are more accustomed to minimizing their pain and hiding how they really feel, both from themselves and others. They often become frightened whenever they feel anything intensely, be it anger, pain, fear, or even love and joy. They fear their emotions will consume them or make them crazy. ~ Beverly Engel

Difficult" and "impossible" are cousins often mistaken for one another, with very little in common. ~ Scott Lynch

Stephen King started to read comics first, I started to watch films and little reading books...Now everything has changed Stephen King reads books and watch films, I read comics, watch films, read books listen to audiobooks...
This are two different stories, you were challanged to open them, good job you open them now but can you try to start a new life??
To start by opening a new book??
Meeting with new characters??
With new writers??
With one new book which has a story which you haven't heard??
Probably, you aren't still ready! ~ Deyth Banger

Baba instilled in us a strong sense of community, and he wanted us to always give to those who didn't have. "You don't give the money to the church, mosque, government, or anyone else for that matter; you give it to the needy yourself. Don't always count on the middle man. The money you are spending in God's name is the money that benefits those in need. ~ Hani Selim

(he) reminded me by his presence, by his natural and plain manner of being good, that there still existed a just world outside our own, something and someone still pure and whole, not corrupt, not savage, extraneous to hatred and terror; something difficult to define, a remote possibility of good, but for which it was worth surviving. ~ Primo Levi

Thank God For Writing, As Now I Can Work Until My Last Breath! ~ Latif Mercado

Reading is poor man's way of travelling not just around the world but into the minds of people. ~ Anonymous

The past but lives in written words: a thousand ages were blank if books had not evoked their ghosts, and kept the pale unbodied shades to warn us from fleshless lips. ~ Francois Fenelon

It was difficult to imagine dark and cruel magic in the glade, with the sunlight shining on us and the scent of flowers in the air. But when I listened, I could hear the deeper thrum of the mountains underneath me, and then it was easy to remember that the very ground we sat on had been built to be a prison and a paradise both. ~ E.K. Johnston

There is no movement in the golf swing so difficult that it cannot be made even more difficult by careful study and diligent practice. ~ Tom Mulligan

We see book-burning as a crime against humanity: it's intolerable because books represent a kind of freedom to us. ~ Samantha Harvey

So ... Boris. Are you evil?' [said the Doctor].
'Not at all, my dear sir,' chuckled Boris.
'You just chuckled,' groaned the Doctor. 'Chuckling's a dead givaway in my books. Along with putting your hands on your hips and snogging another man's wife. ~ James Goss

It is difficult to thinkof any circumstances where learning may be said to be impossible. ~ Michael Joseph Oakeshott

We read to know that we are not alone. ~ William Nicholson

"Would you, do you, my dear?" rejoined the Captain ... "I don't know. It's difficult navigation. She's very hard to carry on with, my dear. You never can tell how she'll head, you see. She's full one minute, and round upon you next." ~ Charles Dickens