Michael Dirda quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Michael Dirda

Michael Dirda Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Michael Dirda on Wise Famous Quotes.

I think the essence of [Kurt] Vonnegut's humanism lay in his emphasis on human kindness as, so to speak, our saving grace.

Science fiction is, after all, the art of extrapolation.

Since I make my living as a literary journalist, not a book scout, I spend inordinate amounts of time either reading or writing.

Order and surprise: these are two intertwined elements that make for any great library or collection.

We learn best by placing our 'confidence in men and women whose examples invite us to love what they love'(Robert Wilken).

As with a love affair, the battered heart needs time to recover from a good work of fiction.

At the age of 14, I ran away from home for four days and hitchhiked around western Pennsylvania and southern Ohio.

Writers keep writing and publishers publishing - it never grows boring.

Near my desk, I keep a large plastic carton filled with fresh notebooks and stationery of various kinds, sizes, and qualities.

None of us, of course, will ever read all the books we'd like, but we can still make a stab at it.

Throughout history the exemplary teacher has never been just an instructor in a subject; he is nearly always its living advertisement.

I once read that there are more biographical works about Napoleon Bonaparte than any other man in history.

As book collectors know all too well: We only regret our economies, never our extravagances.

I've always liked an easygoing, colloquial style. I like the kind of reviewer who is essentially a fellow reader, an enthusiast, a fan.

The savagery and power of Edith Wharton's ghost stories surprised me.

Mentoring is the last refuge of the older artist. With luck, disciples will keep one's books in print, one's reputation alive.

I sometimes lie awake at night and try to imagine what would be the best period in history to spend one's seventy-odd years.

Books can be a source of solace, but I see them mainly as a source of pleasure, personal as well as esthetic.

I'm an appreciator. I love all kinds of books, and I want others to love them, too.

'The Admirable Crichton' is probably Barrie's most famous work after 'Peter Pan', nearly a pendant to that classic.

I am something of an aficionado of thrift stores. In my youth, I regularly searched their shelves for old books.

Any man's death diminishes us, but when an artist passes away, we lose not just an island but an entire archipelago.

The world is a library of strange and wonderful books, and sometimes we just need to go prowling through the stacks.

My wife tells me I should check out 'Downton Abbey', but I gather that series might be almost too intense for my temperate nature.

Best selling authors are always worth listening to, even if you choose to ignore their advice.

I didn't work for any newspapers in college, never worked for any newspaper before 'The Washington Post'.

A good rule of thumb is: Pack twice as many books as changes of underwear.

In my own case, my folks didn't actually object to comics, as many parents did, but they pretty much felt the things were a waste of time.

If you are given lined paper, write crosswise. At least occassionally.

With concerted effort, I can follow written instructions, but don't ask me to simply grasp how to operate a smartphone.

Once upon a time, I sat in my mother's lap as she turned the pages of Golden Books, and I gradually learned to read.

For even the ordinary well-read person, the French Enlightenment is largely restricted to the three big-name philosophes: Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire.

Like most people, I find watching the lazy and quiet underwater realm of a big aquarium exceptionally calming.

. . the humanities encourage the development of our own humanity. They are our instruments of self-exploration.

I think of my own work as part of a decades-long conversation about books and reading with people I will mainly never meet.

What matters are those ordinary acts of kindness and of love, not vaulting ambition with its attendant hubris and smugness.

Most scholarly books we read for the information or insight they contain. But some we return to simply for the pleasure of the author's company.

I long ago ran out of bookshelf space and so, like a museum with its art, simply rotate my books from the boxes to the shelves and back again.

I'm sometimes willing to put in vast, even inordinate amounts of time if I find a project that interests me.

Books don't only furnish a room: they also make the best holiday gifts.

Make sure your message is clear, yet that you are faithful to its complexity.

Neither my mom nor my dad ever bought me any comic books. Certainly not for Christmas. I suspect that doing so would have violated the Parents' Code.

Some of us, alas, are destined to find our escapes in novels, not life.

Adventurous reading allows one to escape a little from the provincialities of one's home culture and the blinders of one's narrow self.

I suppose movie theaters are the churches of the modern age, where we gather reverently to worship the tinsel gods of Hollywood.

I'm nothing if not a literary hedonist.

What I enjoy about reviewing and writing for newspapers and periodicals is simply the chance to talk about all kinds of books and lots of them.

Some travelers collect souvenirs, postcards, or bumper stickers; I bring home a pencil from the various places I visit.

The goal of a just society should be to provide satisfying work with a living wage to all its citizens.

From the late 19th to the early 20th century, the December issue of almost any general-interest magazine regularly featured a holiday horror or two.

Fiction is a house with many stately mansions, but also one in which it is wise, at least sometimes, to swing from the chandeliers.

I am shocked that we seemed to have learned nothing, absolutely nothing, from Vietnam.