[L]iterature is a garden of weeds as well as flowers… – Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteen

The thing that teases the mind over and over for years, and at last gets itself put down rightly on paper — whether little or great, it belongs to Literature. – Sarah Orne Jewett, letter to Willa Cather

I… was seized very early with a passion for literature, which has been the ruling passion of my life, and the great source of my enjoyments. – David Hume (1712–1776)

The extent of a palace is measured from east to west, or from north to south; but that of a literary work, from the earth to heaven; so that there may be found as much range and power of mind in a few pages… as in a whole epic poem. – Joseph Joubert (1754–1824), translated from French by George H. Calvert, 1