"If we can't stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop its being brought in from outside"
- Evelyn Waugh
About this Quote
This quote by Evelyn Waugh is a commentary on the power of literature and its capability to influence individuals. Waugh is recommending that while it may be difficult to entirely eliminate literature from a nation, it is possible to restrict its impact by preventing it from getting in the country. This might be interpreted as a caution versus the dangers of censorship and the significance of allowing people to gain access to different forms of literature. Waugh is likewise highlighting the power of literature to shape people's thoughts and viewpoints, and how it can be utilized to challenge existing beliefs and ideologies. By avoiding literature from going into a nation, Waugh is recommending that it can be used to manage the population and limit their access to different ideas and viewpoints. Eventually, this quote acts as a reminder of the value of freedom of expression and the power of literature to shape our understanding of the world.
"A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect"
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it"
"Great literature must spring from an upheaval in the author's soul. If that upheaval is not present then it must come from the works of any other author which happens to be handy and easily adapted"
"All literature consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool. The reader will like the book to the degree that he agrees with the writer about what's cool"
"What fascinated me mostly about Mickey Cohen was that he, in his later years, hired someone to help him to comprehend literature, to help him to read better, to understand words better"
