Quotes about To the Reader
time is to make an
acquaintance with a new
friend; to read it for a
second time is to meet an
old one.
Chinese Proverb
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IT'S ONE OF THE
MOST MARVELOUS ADVENTURES
THAT ANYONE CAN HAVE
LLOYD ALEXANDER
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I have deliberately left Sylvester and Julia's appearances to the reader's imagination. Votes: 3
Mary WesleyIf words come alive on the page, the writer succeeds in connecting to the reader. Votes: 3
Aman Jassalthe labors of the true critic are more essential to the author, even, than to the reader. Votes: 3
Agnes RepplierI have a total responsibility to the reader. The reader has to trust me and never feel betrayed. Votes: 3
Peter SchjeldahlDear though the reader might be, I'd be silly to cater to what the reader wanted. Votes: 2
Vikram SethThe kids I talk to are readers, and the craziest, the most dedicated readers you will ever see. Votes: 2
Maureen JohnsonBut I care about the reader, and I'm trying to keep the reader's attention for as long as I can. Votes: 2
Jeffrey EugenidesI am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles. Votes: 0
Arthur Conan DoyleIf the reader doesn't understand what you're saying, you're talking to yourself. Votes: 0
Nigel HamiltonInvite the reader to participate by deciphering. Chaos can attract and engage. Votes: 0
David CarsonHave fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience. Votes: 0
Phillip LopateDescription begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's. Votes: 0
Stephen KingThe Christian Theology Reader brings the best primary sources to the theological inquirer. Votes: 0
Gabriel FackreSometimes the easiest-seeming stories to a reader are the hardest kind to write. Votes: 0
John CheeverI write books I'd enjoy reading, I'm the reader standing behind my shoulder. Votes: 0
Salman RushdieCharacter design, like story design, requires a hook to grab the reader's attention. Votes: 0
Ted NaifehA book is a box brimming with incendiary material. The reader strikes the match. Votes: 0
Erica JongATLANTA NIGHTS is sure to please the reader who enjoys this sort of thing. Votes: 0
Raymond E. FeistGood writing is difficult no matter what the reader's age-and children deserve the best. Votes: 0
Aaron ShepardI hope that the kind reader recognises this as a despairing attempt at humour." Votes: 0
Nancy SpringerFor every SF reader of that period, Robert A. Heinlein was also a touchstone. Votes: 0
Walter Jon WilliamsEmphasizing and rewarding length over quality results in worse writing and more reader abandonment. Votes: 0
Marco ArmentThe newspaper fits the reader's program while the listener must fit the broadcaster's program. Votes: 0
Kingman Brewster, Jr.If it is good literature, the reader and the writer will connect. It's inevitable. Votes: 0
Chitra Banerjee DivakaruniWe create an interior 'movie' in the reader's head through words on the page. Votes: 0
Philip GerardI hope that the kind reader recognises this as a despairing attempt at humour. Votes: 0
Nancy SpringerWhen book and reader's furrowed brow meet, it isn't always the book that's stupid. Votes: 0
William H. GassI've always been interested in gadgets and technology and I've always been a reader. Votes: 0
LeVar BurtonThe lead either forges an instant connection with the reader, or the package fails. Votes: 0
Robert BlyWriters think in metaphors. Editors work in metaphors. A great reader reads in metaphors. Votes: 0
Steven PressfieldI hadn't been a particularly precocious reader, but everybody else in my family was. Votes: 0
Tom RachmanI wasn't a very discriminating reader. I read just about everything that came along. Votes: 0
Charles KuraltThere's something very self-conscious about a writer who's addressing his reader. Don't do that. Votes: 0
Ewan McGregorA book exists at the intersection of the author's subconscious and the reader's response. Votes: 0
William GibsonThe act of reading will enrich your life.Become a lifelong learner and a reader. Votes: 0
Lailah Gifty AkitaThe poet can only write the poems; it takes the reader to complete the meaning. Votes: 0
Nikki GiovanniSerial novels have an unexpected effect; they hook the writer as well as the reader. Votes: 0
Alexander McCall SmithYou become a reader by reading the literature, not by reading the handbooks about it. Votes: 0
Aidan ChambersMost books are so well written they barely have any effect on the reader's senses Votes: 0
Steve AylettI'm a very slow reader, and books of interviews are an absolute favorite of mine. Votes: 0
Jason SchwartzmanThe profession of the writer has its thorns about which the reader does not dream. Votes: 0
Henryk SienkiewiczIf Ive vividly laid out the narrative, the reader will come to his own conclusions. Votes: 0
Rick AtkinsonA poem's life and death dependeth still Not on the poet's wits, but reader's will. Votes: 0
Alexander BromeAgosins poetic language engages the reader in a mesmerizing journey of inward reflection and exile. Votes: 0
Isabel AllendeIf you write in category, you write knowing there's a framework, there are reader expectations. Votes: 0
Nora RobertsReader, pray that soon this Iron Age Will crumble, and Beauty escape the rusting cage. Votes: 0
Philip Jose FarmerIt is hard to write about physically difficult things without causing the reader to disengage. Votes: 0
Akhil SharmaA critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have more than one stomach. Votes: 0
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich SchlegelIt's a responsibility of the writer to get the reader out of the story somehow. Votes: 0
Michael OndaatjeKant's style is so heavy that after his pure reason, the reader longs for unreasonableness. Votes: 0
Alfred NobelAs a reader, I tend not to get too much from tales of unrelenting grimness. Votes: 0
Greg van EekhoutBooks are nothing but repositories for those lies the author wants his reader to believe. Votes: 0
Glen CookA letter is a risky thing; the writer gambles on the reader's frame of mind. Votes: 0
Margaret DelandBut that private world, once it's dramatised, doesn't live again until it finds a reader. Votes: 0
John McGahernWithout a reader, I cannot write. It's like a kiss: they cannot be done alone. Votes: 0
John CheeverReader, I wish thee Health, Wealth, Happiness, And may kind Heaven thy Year's Industry bless. Votes: 0
Benjamin FranklinMy very identities as a reader and a writer began at the Walt Whitman branch library. Votes: 0
Paula SpencerI try to use short sentences, short paragraphs and short chapters to keep the reader's interest. Votes: 0
Nelson DeMillePoetry is not a silent art. The poem must perform, unaided, in its readerâs head. Votes: 0
Christopher LogueA book does not discriminate against any reader. All are welcome at the table of literature. Votes: 0
Julia AlvarezThe reader became the book; and summer night Was like the conscious being of the book. Votes: 0
Wallace StevensAnything based on ancient texts is difficult for a modern reader to get their head around. Votes: 0
Joanne HarrisTechnique holds a reader from sentence to sentence, but only content will stay in his mind. Votes: 0
Joyce Carol OatesMirror the reader to himself and then show him afterward how your product fits his needs. Votes: 0
Raymond RubicamAspiring to a souffle, he achieves a pancake at which the reader saws without much appetite. Votes: 0
John LeonardThe reader deserves an honest opinion. If he doesn't deserve it, give it to him anyhow. Votes: 0
John CiardiAs a lifelong romance reader, its always satisfying to get to talk to other romance readers! Votes: 0
Melissa MarrEvery reader knows about the feeling that characters in books seem more real than real people. Votes: 0
Cornelia FunkeWriting is something that I've always loved. That stems from my love of being a reader. Votes: 0
Jen LancasterSome of the biggest challenges were, page after page, standing naked in front of the reader. Votes: 0
Rob RobergeTo the poet as a basement quilt, but perhaps To some reader a latticework of regrets ... Votes: 0
John AshberyLazy poets try to elicit a reader's response with words designed to tug at the heart. Votes: 0
Guy Gavriel KayAs a lifelong romance reader, it's always satisfying to get to talk to other romance readers! Votes: 0
Melissa MarrWhat a writer brought to a book didn't matter as much as what the reader contributed. Votes: 0
Lisa MortonI've been a faithful reader of the great classical documents of economics, or tried to be. Votes: 0
John Kenneth GalbraithIt's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing. Votes: 0
Elmore LeonardMy television fed me visions, but I never created my own until I became a reader. Votes: 0
Barry LaneAs a reader, I happen to like turning pages and wanting to know what happens next. Votes: 0
Tracy ChevalierA novel is a printed circuit through which flows the force of a reader's own life. Votes: 0
E. L. DoctorowI need you, the reader, to imagine us, for we don't really exist if you don't. Votes: 0
Vladimir NabokovA powerful agent is the right word: it lights the reader's way and makes it plain. Votes: 0
Mark TwainI've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied. Votes: 0
John SteinbeckI am a slow reader, and fast eater; I wish it were the other way around. Votes: 0
Amy Krouse RosenthalThe writer's original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader's. Votes: 0
Stephen KingDespereaux marveled at his own bravery. He admired his own defiance. And then, reader, he fainted. Votes: 0
Kate DiCamilloTo become a lifelong reader, one has to do a lot of varied and interesting reading. Votes: 0
Kelly GallagherAfter all, it's the librarian's sworn purpose to bring books together with their one true reader. Votes: 0
Kate MortonWriters build castles in the air, the reader lives inside, and the publisher inns the rent. Votes: 0
Maxim GorkyThey'll remember you if you're the best reader in class-or if you throw up at lunch. Votes: 0
Cynthia LewisGreen leaves on a dead tree is our epitaph-green leaves, dear reader, on a dead tree. Votes: 0
Cyril ConnollyMy favorite reader is one that revisits books and gets something new out of them each time. Votes: 0
Jacqueline WoodsonMany of the faults you see in others, dear reader, are your own nature reflected in them. Votes: 0
RumiThe meeting of writer and reader is an intimate act, and it properly takes place in private. Votes: 0
Wallace StegnerThe reader becomes God, for all textual purposes. I see your eyes glazing over, so I'll hush. Votes: 0
David Foster WallaceLet me tell you, 'The Reader' was not glamorous for me in terms of the body-hair maintenance. Votes: 0
Kate WinsletAll "little" magazines have the luxury of thinking the reader is the same person as their editors Votes: 0
William WhitworthShow the reader what the character thinks about, and then the reader will think about it too. Votes: 0
George V. HigginsThe reader can't take much for granted in a fiction where the scenery can eat the characters. Votes: 0
Ursula K. Le GuinWhen I was a teenager, I was a voracious reader of crime fiction, but only contemporary books. Votes: 0
Michael ConnellyI'm hopefully making the reader feel a lot about the characters and then about their own life. Votes: 0
Jeffrey EugenidesNo poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder, no symphony for the listener. Votes: 0
Walter BenjaminI think of myself as writing for one person, that one perfect reader who understands and loves. Votes: 0
Anne SextonThe ways in which a book, once read, stays (and changes) in the reader's mind are unpredictable. Votes: 0
Julian BarnesI concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel with intimately. Votes: 0
Helen DunmoreI'm a little bit of a news political junkie, a little bit of a reader of history. Votes: 0
David MandelToo many ads that try not to go over the reader's head end up beneath his notice. Votes: 0
Leo BurnettI have been an avid reader of 'Golf Digest' ever since I started playing this great game. Votes: 0
Paula CreamerI simply write with an intelligent reader in mind. I don't think about how old they are. Votes: 0
Robert CormierAnybody who is afraid of reading a page of text is not the reader that I want. Votes: 0
Rick RemenderI'd always been a big reader. I credit my mom for giving me my love of reading. Votes: 0
Nicole JordanNovels are a kind of experiment in selfhood, for the reader as well as for the author. Votes: 0
Jonathan DeeI attended a Baptist church as a child and was an avid reader starting with the Bible. Votes: 0
John Henrik ClarkeWhen I write, I enjoy myself so much that what is being written really needs no reader Votes: 0
Guillermo Cabrera InfanteAn author who sets his reader on sounding the depths of his own thoughts serves him best. Votes: 0
Amos Bronson AlcottYou thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by. Votes: 0
Mark TwainI really rely a lot more on memory. I'm definitely not as good of a sight reader. Votes: 0
John PetrucciI was reading for understanding. I wanted to do to a reader what Salinger did for me. Votes: 0
John DufresneHe has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary. Votes: 0
William FaulknerSay what you mean. Say what you see. Make a photograph, if you can, for the reader. Votes: 0
Stephen KingI have never written a book that didn't teach me far more than it taught my reader. Votes: 0
Isaac AsimovA novel is like a bow, and the violin that produces the sound is the reader's soul. Votes: 0
StendhalI want the reader to know what's going on. So there's never a mystery in my books. Votes: 0
Elmore LeonardYou learn to write by reading, and my experiences and tastes as a reader are pretty wide. Votes: 0
Justin CroninI can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss - you can't do it alone. Votes: 0
John CheeverI'm a big reader, so I tend to already know the books when they're adapted into something. Votes: 0
Carrie CoonBut I do not have the reader in mind when I write. No true writer does that Votes: 0
Guillermo Cabrera InfanteI'm quite a slow reader. It can take me quite a while to get though a book. Votes: 0
Dakota Blue RichardsI was a very avid reader when I was a child, and I also was a good listener. Votes: 0
Joseph BruchacTo reread a book is to read a different book. The reader is different. The meaning is different. Votes: 0
Johnny RichBelieve in the reader and they can connect the dots, if you succeed breathe life into the story Votes: 0
Esther FreudIf a writer disbelieves what he is writing, then he can hardly expect his reader to believe it. Votes: 0
Jorge Luis BorgesHitler was an avid reader, a passion that stayed with him through all the phases of his career. Votes: 0
Volker UllrichThe secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer. Votes: 0
Zadie SmithIt was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader. Votes: 0
Fyodor DostoevskyThe good agent probably is not the reader, he's just the guy who can put together a deal. Votes: 0
Rod SerlingMy greatest fear is disappointing the reader, so each book has to be better than the one before. Votes: 0
Anthony HorowitzI want to tell a story that makes the reader always want to see what will happen next. Votes: 0
Ken FollettI'm my own "ideal reader" in the sense that I write novels that I would want to read. Votes: 0
Steve EricksonI am obliged to deal with hundreds of men and to make them live without killing the reader. Votes: 0
George SartonHumour plays close to the big, hot fire, which is the truth, and the reader feels the heat. Votes: 0
E. B. WhiteI have never had a point in my life to make. I'm just trying to entertain the reader. Votes: 0
Dave BarryReader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit. Votes: 0
Charles LambI suspect any serious reader has a first great book, just the way anybody has a first kiss. Votes: 0
Michael CunninghamThe gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad. Votes: 0
Mark TwainIt's a rare reader who doesn't go to the novel looking for a kind of encouragement to live. Votes: 0
Norman RushHappy are you, reader, if you do not belong to this sex to which all good is forbidden. Votes: 0
Marie de GournayThe one reader I'm trying to please as I write is me, and I'm pretty difficult to please. Votes: 0
Sara ZarrTo be honest, Im not that much of a reader of Korean fiction, since so little is translated. Votes: 0
Chang-Rae LeeI have a lot of respect for readers because I'm a reader. That's how I got into writing. Votes: 0
Toni MorrisonI know that no reader ever asks a question. A writer must force his favors upon his readers. Votes: 0
Jan NerudaIdeally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own. Votes: 0
Mark TwainHow you leave the reader is so important - not the climax; I call it the 'exit feeling'. Votes: 0
Patrick NessI don't think the author should make the reader do that much work to remember who somebody is. Votes: 0
Kevin J. AndersonI do think I was trying to entertain the reader more than I was trying to purge myself. Votes: 0
Curtis SittenfeldI grew up a big comic book reader, as a kid, and I love the whole fanboy crowd. Votes: 0
Joe ManganielloKeep in mind that books, like art museums, are not always geared to the desires of the reader. Votes: 0
Tyler CowenWith my pictures, what I hope is that it encourages the reader to imagine more pictures of his own. Votes: 0
Quentin BlakeI had to decide if I wanted to be known as a writer or a reader. I chose writer. Votes: 0
Nathan LowellIt is also one of the pleasures of oral biography, in that the reader, rather than editor, is jury. Votes: 0
George PlimptonI am not mature enough as a reader to enjoy a book in which I hate all the people. Votes: 0
Ann PatchettI learned not to care ... and to write for an imaginary reader whose tastes were similar to my own. Votes: 0
Terry SouthernThat writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time. Votes: 0
Charles Caleb ColtonI never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer. Votes: 0
Jon KrakauerSuspense is one of the ways you persuade a reader to become engaged and stay engaged with your work. Votes: 0
Marge PiercyA reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one. Votes: 0
George R. R. MartinI pull out my e-reader and get back to my fictional boyfriend. Lord knows he won't cheat on me. Votes: 0
M.D. SapersteinI am an avid reader! As for writing, I might - someday. But we'll have to wait and see. Votes: 0
Zosia MametSo the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads. Votes: 0
Dr. SeussIf it would not look too much like showing off, I would tell the reader where New Zealand is. Votes: 0
Mark TwainIt is no use describing a house; the reader will fix the scene in some spot he knows himself. Votes: 0
J. Milton HayesA poem is a frozen moment melted by each reader for themselves to flow into the here and now. Votes: 0
Hilde DominThe purpose of a writer is to show the beauty and tragedy of life in the reader's own mirror. Votes: 0
Debasish MridhaThe best book is not one that informs merely, but one that stirs the reader up to inform himself. Votes: 0
A.W. TozerIf the reader cares, I dont think it matters so much whether your hero is in fact an anti-hero. Votes: 0
Barry EislerThe act of reading is a partnership. The author builds a house, but the reader makes it a home. Votes: 0
Jodi PicoultIn college, you're kind of designing who you want to be. And I wanted to be a big reader. Votes: 0
Josh RadnorO Day of days when we can read! The reader and the book, either without the other is naught. Votes: 0
Ralph Waldo EmersonWhat makes a story is how well it manages to connect with the reader, the visceral effect it has. Votes: 0
Len WeinIf poetry alters the way in which the reader views the world, then it has had its desired effect. Votes: 0
John BartonThere isn't any distinction between a reader and a writer - reading is so much a part of it. Votes: 0
Dermot HealyThe best book is not one that informs merely, but one that stirs the reader up to inform himself. Votes: 0
Aiden Wilson TozerIf the reader cares, I don't think it matters so much whether your hero is in fact an anti-hero. Votes: 0
Barry EislerThe author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so. Votes: 0
W. Somerset MaughamIt's funny: I like being surprised as a reader, so it's difficult for me to spoil my own stuff. Votes: 0
Marc GuggenheimAre you a reader? If you aren't a reader, you might as well forget trying to be a writer. Votes: 0
Wallace StegnerI long for, not a writer's retreat - I can write in any situation - but a reader's retreat. Votes: 0
Aleksandar HemonVery deep. You should send that in to the Reader's Digest. They've got a page for people like you. Votes: 0
Douglas AdamsI read while the kids play. I can see them from the kitchen window. And I'm a fast reader. Votes: 0
Reese WitherspoonFor the reader who has put away comic books, but isn't yet ready for editorials in the Daily News. Votes: 0
Gloria SteinemI don't care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book. Votes: 0
Roald DahlThat's what I want as a reader - I want to be confident that the book will do its job. Votes: 0
Patrick NessThe most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit. Votes: 0
William SafireThere's no such thing as a good book or a bad book. There's a book that matters to a reader. Votes: 0
Maggie StiefvaterI have only one reader - me. I'm the average reader. If I like it, that's all I worry about. Votes: 0
Judith KrantzTo be a good editor or a good writer, I think you really need to be a great reader first. Votes: 0
Karen Thompson WalkerThere are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good reader. Votes: 0
Stephen AmbroseThe funny thing is, I'm not really a big reader, not a big fan of books in the first place. Votes: 0
Macaulay CulkinBefore I'm a writer, I'm definitely a reader and when I read memoir, I really want it to be true. Votes: 0
Augusten BurroughsI was an avid reader of futurists during the 1970s and '80s. They were so wrong - about everything. Votes: 0
Hermann E. OttFew things leave a deeper mark on the reader, than the first book that finds its way to his heart. Votes: 0
Carlos Ruiz ZafonIt would be easier to write a novel without reader input, but I feel the fiction is richer for it. Votes: 0
Piers AnthonyA good friend of mine once said, I have never met a bigot who was a reader as a child. Votes: 0
Marion Dane BauerThe demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole Life to reading my works. Votes: 0
James JoyceThe Bible - it's sort of the other person in the room. There's this book, the reader, and the Bible. Votes: 0
Anita DiamentI was a great reader of fairy tales. I tried to read the entire fairy tale section of the library. Votes: 0
Beverly ClearyAt the same time, as you know, unless you are a comic book reader, Daredevil is not a known thing. Votes: 0
Avi AradIt may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer. Votes: 0
Johannes KeplerI'm quite a good reader of people; I like to meet people, and I can tell if they're lying or not. Votes: 0
Rhys DarbyI am a Graham Greene fan - I'm just a ferocious reader. I read an awful lot when I get the time. Votes: 0
Andrea RiseboroughYou will never be a leader in any area of your life if you are not a reader in those areas of life. Votes: 0
Jim George