The test of real literature is that it will bear repetition. We read over the same pages again and again, and always with fresh delight. – Samual McChord Crothers

Literature—our great archive of human expression… – Sven Birkerts (b.1951), “Resisting the Kindle,” The Atlantic, 2009 March 2nd

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

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