Quotes about Literature
Poetry
Quotes about Writing
Fun Facts
100

Which author made the following statement about what literature does? 


"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become."

C.S. Lewis

J.R.R. Tolkien

Toni Morrison

Suzanne Collins

C.S. Lewis

100

Which of these women wrote more than 2,000 years ago?

Sappho

Christine de Pizan

Phillis Wheatley

Anna Akhmatova


Sappho

100

Who said "The road to hell is paved with works in progress"?

James Baldwin

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Joan Didion

Philip Roth

Philip Roth

100

Which American Playwright is responsible for the series of ten plays known as the Pittsburg Cycle?

Arthur Miller

Tennessee Williams

Suzan Lori Parks

August Wilson

August Wilson

200

Which author made the following statement about what literature is? 


"Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree."

Henry James

J.K. Rowling

Ezra Pound

Sylvia Plath

Ezra Pound

200

For which Italian poet is a type of sonnet named?

Dante Alighieri

Antonia Pozzi

Francesco Petrarca

Mario Luzi

Dante Alighieri

200

Which writer explained "I don't care if a reader hates one of my stories, just so long as he finishes the book"?

Steven Crane

Sherman Alexie

Roald Dahl 

Steven King

Roald Dahl

200

Which of these novelists had to go into hiding because of death threats?

Salmon Rushdie

Chaim Potok

Rabindranath Tagore

William Faulkner

Salmon Rushdie

300

Who is the author of the following statement about literature and literacy?


“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."

Virginia Woolf

Ray Bradbury

Octavia Butler

Sherman Alexie

Ray Bradbury

300

Which famous American writer believed that there was no such thing as a “long poem,” that the phrase was a contradiction, that a work of art (a poem) should be able to achieve its effect in one sitting, read aloud in no more than thirty minutes, probably around 100 lines?

Walt Whitman

Emily Dickinson

Edgar Allan Poe

Robert Lowell

Edgar Allan Poe

300

Which writer famously said "Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words"?

Mark Twain

Henry James

Thomas Hardy

John Updike 

Mark Twain

300

What is the line Bartleby repeats in Bartleby, the Scrivener?

I would prefer not to.

With submission sir.

I am getting old.

Excuse me.


I would prefer not to.

400

Who is the author of this statement about what literary artists do?


“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible."

Franz Kafka

Louise Erdrich

Stephen King

Toni Cade Bambara

Toni Cade Bambara

400

Which author said “If there's a book that you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it"?

Steven King

Toni Morrison

Amy Tan

E. B. White

Toni Morrison

400

"Successful professional writers are not withholding mysterious secrets from eager beginners. The only way anybody ever learns to write well is by trying to write well. This usually begins by reading good writing by other people, and writing very badly by yourself, for a long time."  Which author said this?

Stephen King

Octavia Butler

Neil Gaiman

Ursula LeGuin

Ursula LeGuin

400

Where was novelist Chimamanda Adiche born?

Kenya

Uganda

South Africa

Nigeria

Nigeria

500

Which author made the following statement about how literature (specifically poetry) feels?


“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”

Maya Angelou

Emily Dickinson

Shel Silverstein

Langston Hughes

Emily Dickinson 

500

Which poet is famous for writing haiku?

Li Po

Basho

Du Fu

Gabriela Mistral

Basho

500

When asked what to do to be a writer, who said, "I recommend that they take classes because it’s a great way to rent an audience and make sure you’re communicating what you think you’re communicating [ . . .] and I recommend that they forget a couple of things. Forget about talent. I recommend that they go to the bestselling lists and see who else doesn’t have talent and it hasn’t stopped them, so don’t worry. Forget about inspiration, because it’s more likely to be a reason not to write, as in, “I can’t write today because I’m not inspired.”[ . . . ] Just keep at it, keep learning your craft and keep trying”?

Stephen King

Octavia Butler

Neil Gaiman

Ursula LeGuin

Octavia Butler 

500

What genre is Marjane Satrapi’s book Persepolis?

Epic Poetry

Graphic Novel

Science Fiction

Mystery Novel

Graphic Novel