What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote. – E.M. Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy, 1951
The duty of literature is to note what counts, and to light up what is suited to the light. If it ceases to choose and to love, it becomes like a woman who gives herself without preference. – Anatole France
The object of literature is to make man a wiser and happier being. The poet makes us happy because he tells us how we may become so. – Charles Lanman, “Thoughts on Literature,” 1840
