Alexander Pope Quotes

You can't expect that, after a poor fellow has written a book, he should also understand it.

Be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.

We have not read an author till we have seen his object, whatever it may be, as he saw it.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

To be a good editor or a good writer, I think you really need to be a great reader first.

An active and creative reader is a re-reader.

Everything is tedious when one does not read with the feeling of the Author.

Too often students are being taught to read as if literature were some kind of ethics class or civics class—or worse, some kind of self-help manual. In fact, the important thing is the way the writer uses the language.

the autobiography is at one and the same time a single element in the series of the writer's created works and an interpretation of the whole series.

There is no surer way to misread any document than to read it literally. As nearly as we can, we must put ourselves in the place of those who uttered the words, and try to divine how they would have dealt with the unforeseen situation; and, although their words are by far the most decisive evidence of what they would have done, they are by no means final.

Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative reader is a rereader.

The most important quality for a judge is open- mindedness to the arguments.

I love and care about literature, and great writers are our teachers. You're studying their mind when you read their work.

I think it's true that we shouldn't apply a strict litmus test and the most important thing in any judge is their capacity to provide fairness and justice to the American people.

But whether thus submissively or not, at least be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.

If we desire to judge justly, we must persuade ourselves that none of us is without sin.

Read like mad. But try to do it analytically - which can be hard, because the better and more compelling a novel is, the less conscious you will be of its devices. It's worth trying to figure those devices out, however: they might come in useful in your own work.

That was excellently observed’, say I, when I read a passage in an author, where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken.

The judges are a big problem. Law is equal for everyone, except for them.

I do think the author ought to be able to give a good reason for the way things are in his poem. Not a bad question to ask oneself.

Some writers, notably Anton Chekov, argue that all characters must be admirable, because once we've looked at anyone deeply enough and understood their motivation we must identify with them rather than judge them.

In reading some books we occupy ourselves chiefly with the thoughts of the author; in perusing others, exclusively with our own.

It should not be Illiers-Combray that we visit: a genuine homage to Proust would be to look at our world through his eyes, not look at his world through our eyes.