To have access to literature, world literature, was to escape the prison of national vanity, of philistinism, of compulsory provincialism, of inane schooling, of imperfect destinies and bad luck. (Susan Sontag)

To have access to literature, world literature, was to escape the prison of national vanity, of philistinism, of compulsory provincialism, of inane schooling, of imperfect destinies and bad luck.

Susan Sontag

Related topics

bad escape imperfect inane luck national philistinism prison provincialism schooling vanity world

Related quotes

Literature has been the salvation of the damned, literature has inspired and guided lovers, routed despair and can perhaps in this case save the world. View quote
John Cheever
Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't, don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery or simple bad luck. View quote
Joseph Heller
Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself. View quote
Henry Miller
I can say without affectation that I belong to the Russian convict world no less than I do to Russian literature. I got my education there, and it will last forever. View quote
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
All the revision in the world will not save a bad first draft: for the architecture of the thing comes, or fails to come, in the first conception, and revision only affects the detail and ornament, alas! View quote
T. E. Lawrence