“Unplug and read every day. You stop at least three times a day to eat. Stop at least once a day to read.”— Peggy Noonan, catholic.edu
“You must not stop reading books. That's all. If you seek a happy and interesting life, one of depth, meaning and accomplishment, you must read books.”— Peggy Noonan, catholic.edu
“One who writes memoir wishes to step into that light, not to see one's own face—that is not possible—but to feel the length of shadow cast by the night.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“True memoir is written, like all literature, in an attempt to find not only a self but a world.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“If we learn not only to tell our stories but to listen to what our stories tell us—to write the first draft and then return for the second draft—we are doing the work of memory.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“For meaning is not "attached" to the detail by the memoirist; meaning is revealed.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“Seeking the congruence between stored image and hidden emotion—that's the real job of memoir.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“My narrative self (the culprit who invented) wishes to be discovered by my reflective self, the self who wants to understand and make sense of half-remembered moment.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“Memory seeks a permanent home for feeling and image, a habitation where they can live together.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“Intimacy with a piece of writing, as with a person, comes from paying attention to the revelations it is capable of giving, not by imposing my own notions and agenda, no matter how well intentioned they might be.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“The experience was simply there, like a book that has always been on the shelf, whether I ever read it or not, the binding and the title showing as I skim across the contents of my life.”— Patricia Hampl, amazon.com
“The book is sometimes a barricade, something lodged in the midst of matter to constitute a specific locus that may submerge for years, intensified thickenings of substances as varied as can be brought together by structured strings of symbols.”— Matthew Fuller, urbanomic.com
“Commuovere (Italian): To be moved in a heartwarming way, usually relating to a story that moved you to tears”— Nicola Dall'Asen, wearesweet.co
“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”— Virginia Woolf, amazon.com
“Most of ideas come from books, or art, or movies or music. Those are the big areas where you shape your consciousness – what you watch, what you read and what you listen to.”— Aaron Hicklin, dveightmag.com
“I could spend all of my time in a quiet, relaxed place with a good book and my headphones at full volume.”— Lineisy Montero, interviewmagazine.com