„A book has but one voice, but it does not instruct everyone alike.“

„It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a whole book — what everyone else does not say in a whole book.“

—  Friedrich Nietzsche, buch Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert

Things the Germans Lack, 51
Twilight of the Idols (1888)

„Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.“

—  Buckminster Fuller American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist 1895 - 1983

1960s, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1963)

„Book I The Problem of Union: AUM. The following instruction concerneth the Science of Union.“

—  Alice A. Bailey esoteric, theosophist, writer 1880 - 1949

Quelle: The Light of the Soul (Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) (1927), p. 4

„Everyone in my book accuses everyone else of being crazy. Frankly, I think the whole society is nuts — and the question is: What does a sane man do in an insane society?“

—  Joseph Heller American author 1923 - 1999

As quoted in "Heller's legacy will be 'Catch-22' ideas" at CNN (13 December 1999) http://archives.cnn.com/1999/books/news/12/13/heller/index.html

„Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book -and does“

—  Groucho Marx American comedian 1890 - 1977

„This is a book by a writer who does some teaching, not a book by a teacher who does some writing, and one of the satisfactions of the craft is that there's always something new to learn.“

—  William Zinsser writer, editor, journalist, literary critic, professor 1922 - 2015

Introduction, p. viii.
On Writing Well (Fifth Edition, orig. pub. 1976)

„A book that one has not read yet is always more exciting than a book one has memorized.“

—  Cassandra Clare, The City of Lost Souls

Quelle: City of Lost Souls

„Almost every culture in the Thousand Cultures had some wisdom literature, and much of it was the same between any two cultures.... Cultures tend to be alike in much of what they think are the basic virtues, but one of the ones they are most alike in, though it rarely appears in their book of wisdom, is: Distrust strangers, fear foreigners, dread novelty.“

—  John Barnes, buch Earth Made of Glass

Earth Made of Glass (1998)

„It is risky in a book of ideas to speak in one’s own voice, but it reminds us that the sources of the truest truths are inevitably profoundly personal.“

—  Saul Bellow Canadian-born American writer 1915 - 2005

Quelle: Introduction to The Closing of the American Mind (1988), p. 12
Kontext: As a scholar [Allan Bloom] intends to enlighten us, and as a writer he has learned from Aristophanes and other models that enlightenment should also be enjoyable. To me, this is not the book of a professor, but that of a thinker who is willing to take the risks more frequently taken by writers. It is risky in a book of ideas to speak in one’s own voice, but it reminds us that the sources of the truest truths are inevitably profoundly personal. … Academics, even those describing themselves as existentialists, very seldom offer themselves publicly and frankly as individuals, as persons.

„It was intended to please no one and to offend everyone. The entire process of the book was to discover the repressed elements of contemporary culture, whatever they are, and palpate them.“

—  Camille Paglia American writer 1947

Response to criticism of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, as quoted in "20Q: Camille Paglia" by Warren Kalbacker in Playboy magazine (October 1991) http://www.playboy.co.uk/article/16659/20q-camille-paglia; also in Gauntlet # 4 (1992), p. 133
Kontext: It was intended to please no one and to offend everyone. The entire process of the book was to discover the repressed elements of contemporary culture, whatever they are, and palpate them. One of the main premises was to demonstrate that pornography is everywhere in major art. Art history as written is completely sex free, repressive and puritanical. I want precision and historical knowledge, but at the same time, I try to zap it with pornographic intensity.

„It might be my favorite book of mine. It was a very exciting time in my life. I was writing that book while I was at college. Sort of like the best of times, the worst of times. There was a lot of elation, there was a lot of despair. It was just a really fun book to write. I loved mimicking all the different voices. The stream of conscious does get a little out of hand. I kind of like that about the book. It's kind of all over the place. It's casual. It's scruffy. That's the one book of mine that I have a very, very soft spot for.“

—  Bret Easton Ellis American novelist 1964

On The Rules of Attraction
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=571852

„Hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book, and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go.“

—  Nick Hornby, buch A Long Way Down

Quelle: A Long Way Down

„Let your daughter have first of all the book of Psalms for holiness of heart, and be instructed in the Proverbs of Solomon for her godly life.“

—  Jerome Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church 345 - 420

Letter 107
Letters

„In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream.“

—  Thomas Carlyle Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher 1795 - 1881

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Man of Letters

„In the past several years, my hard work, my books which I wrote through blood and tears, and the purpose of my life all has been focused on: helping everyone to have a spring, so that everyone's heart will be bright, everyone will have a happy life, and everyone will have the freedom to develop in any way they want.“

—  Ba Jin Chinese novelist 1904 - 2005

Preface to The Autumn in the Spring (May 1932) http://www.learn-chinese.org/modernprose1/bachun/chunt01.htm
Kontext: In the past several years, my hard work, my books which I wrote through blood and tears, and the purpose of my life all has been focused on: helping everyone to have a spring, so that everyone's heart will be bright, everyone will have a happy life, and everyone will have the freedom to develop in any way they want. I aroused people to have thirst for, thirst for brightness; I put a cause in front of people, a cause which is worthy of people's devotion. But all of my hard work was destroyed by another power. After arousing a young soul, it only made him or her suffer more unbearable trampling torment.

„If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.“

—  Sherman Alexie Native American author and filmmaker 1966

„In this age of censorship, I mourn the loss of books that will never be written, I mourn the voices that will be silenced-writers' voices, teachers' voices, students' voices-and all because of fear.“

—  Judy Blume American children's writer 1938

Quelle: Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers

„In contrast to the old monumental art [the book] itself goes to the people, and does not stand like a cathedral in one place waiting for someone to approach…. [The book is the] monument of the future.“

—  El Lissitsky Soviet artist, designer, photographer, teacher, typographer and architect 1890 - 1941

c. 1930
Wikipedia: El Lissitzky, note [2]
1926 - 1941

„All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they really happened and after you are finished reading one you feel that it all happened to you and after which it all belongs to you.“

—  Ernest Hemingway American author and journalist 1899 - 1961

A Letter from Cuba (1934)
Kontext: All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.
Kontext: All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.