“It perhaps might be said--if any one dared--that the most worthless literature of the world has been that which has been written by the men of one nation concerning the men of another.”

“The days on which one has been the most inquisitive are among the days on which one has been happiest.”

“Literature has been our salvation, literature has inspired and guided lovers, routed despair and can perhaps in this case save the world.”

“Men of genius are made not by new ideas, but by an idea which possesses them, namely, that what has been said has not yet been sufficiently said.”

“For most of human history, 'literature,' both fiction and poetry, has been narrated, not written — heard, not read. So fairy tales, folk tales, stories from the oral tradition, are all of them the most vital connection we have with the imaginations of the ordinary men and women whose labor created our world.”

“When the real history of the world is written, it will show god’s dealings with men, and the place the gospel has played in the rise and fall of nations.”