There is more ado to interpret interpretations than to interpret things, and more books upon books than upon any other subject; we do nothing but comment upon one another. Every place swarms with commentaries; of authors there is great scarcity.

Comments outnumber ideas.

A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste.

"Many scholars forget, it seems to me, that our enjoyment of the great works of literature depends more upon the depth of our sympathy than upon our understanding. The trouble is that very few of their laborious explanations stick in the memory. The mind drops them as a branch drops its overripe fruit. ... Again and again I ask impatiently, "Why concern myself with these explanations and hypotheses?" They fly hither and thither in my thought like blind birds beating the air with ineffectual wings. I do not mean to object to a thorough knowledge of the famous works we read. I object only to the interminable comments and bewildering criticisms that teach but one thing: there are as many opinions as there are men."

a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.

I do not mean to object to a thorough knowledge of the famous works we read. I object only to the interminable comments and bewildering criticisms that teach but one thing: there are as many opinions as there are men.

Literature is too full of 'acknowledgments' and squabbles about originality...

The whole world's writing novels, but nobody's reading them.

Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare

The whole world's writing novels, but nobody's reading them. We need readers. More readers. Fewer writers.

Those who write clearly have readers, those who write obscurely have commentators.

if authors were to let a trifling thing like ignorance stop them from writing, the bookshops would be empty.

There’s not much to be said about the period except that most writers don’t reach it soon enough.

The multitude of books is making us ignorant.