“Real literature is something much better than a harmless instrument for getting through idle hours. The purpose of great literature is to help us to develop into full human beings.”
“When she thinks a book is very good, what she says to herself is: yes, that’s how things are. I hadn’t thought of it before, but that’s how things are.”
“Entering a novel is like going on a climb in the mountains: you have to learn the rhythm of respiration, acquire the pace; otherwise you stop right away.”