“In old Chinese novels, especially in the Kimpeibai, usually after every ten or twenty pages of innocent description, the author invariably throws in an indecent scene as if he were quite punctually fulfilling a promise.”

“A novel has to entertain -- that's the contract with the reader: you give me ten hours and I'll give you a reason to turn every page.”

“That was the trouble with life—it never quite fulfilled its promises.”

“The authors (Habsburg military personnel) invariably show some surprise when recounting a respectable performance of a regiment during its Italian period and are forced to admit, somewhat reluctantly, that the Italians were not such bad soldiers after all. [I think this quote is hilarious, especially when imagining Tommaso's reaction.]”

“I can't read ten pages of Steinbeck without throwing up.”

“Because every book of art, be it a poem or a cupola, is understandably a self-portrait of its author, we won't strain ourselves too hard trying to distinguish between the author's persona and the poem's lyrical hero. As a rule, such distinctions are quite meaningless, if only because a lyrical hero is invariably an author's self-projection.”