"A book , once it is printed and published, becomes individual. It is by its publication as decisively severed from its author as in parturition a child is cut off from its parent. The book "means" thereafter, perforce, both grammatically and actually, whatever meaning this or that reader gets out of it."

--

Source : James Branch Cabell (1930). “The Works of James Branch Cabell: Towsend of Lichfield”

James Branch Cabell

#Children Quotes #Book Quotes #Mean Quotes

“I hated the things they believe in, the things they so innocently and charmingly pretended. I hated the sanctimonious piety that let people hurt helpless creatures. I hated the prayers and the hymns - the fountains and the red images that coloured their drab music, the fountains filled with blood, the sacrifice of the lamb.”
“I sit and think with a drink about how I'm gonna win...”
“Around mile 20 I was feeling so good, I wanted to kiss everyone.”
“I'm never proud of myself. No. People are always proud of me, but I think people can always be greater than me. People call me great; I don't think that I'm great. But they say, "You are the inventor for the word reggae, you are great." And I have to say, "Okay, thank you."”
“Poetry is a good medium for revolutionary hope.”
“It seems to me we are losing our way in an effort to get the ratings.”
“All of us live at the feeling level, and our feelings are in large part a result of the way we perceive things. You observe or are told something, you interpret it, and only then do you have a reaction at the feeling level. The point is that feeling is preceded by perception, and all of us are capable of controlling our interpretation [the associations and assumptions] of what we see. If we can control our interpretation, then it logically follows that we can exercise some control over our feelings as well.”
“Well my music was different in high school; I was singing about loveâ€”you know, things I don't care about anymore.”

You may also like:

Arthur Machen
Author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Writer
Ellen Glasgow
Novelist
H. P. Lovecraft
Author
James Blish
Author
Joseph Hergesheimer
Writer
Lord Dunsany
Writer
Neil Gaiman
Author
Robert A. Heinlein
Science writer