Alexander Theroux Quotes

I'm very much afraid I didn't mean anything but nonsense. Still, you know, words mean more than we mean to express when we use them; so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer means. So, whatever good meanings are in the book, I'm glad to accept as the meaning of the book.

He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.

Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself.

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

I excelled in English while I was at school.

I don't think there's anything wrong with someone having to read a poem twice. Or even a book.

A great many people think that polysyllables are a sign of intelligence.

My English is good because I have a good ear.

English was my worst subject in school.

When reading a book, be very certain that you never go past a word you do not fully understand. The only reason a person gives up a study or becomes confused or unable to learn is because he or she has gone past a word that was not understood.

What is reading but silent conversation?

Anyone who is too lazy to master the comparatively small glossary necessary to understand Chaucer deserves to be shut out from the reading of good books forever.

Listen you have to read a book three times before you know it.

Words mean more than we mean to express when we use them: so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer meant.

You can't expect that, after a poor fellow has written a book, he should also understand it.

There is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot.

The art of reading is the art of adopting the pace the author has set. Some books are fast and some are slow, but no book can be understood if it is taken at the wrong speed.

I can get by and chatter and talk and tell funny stories, make people laugh, but I don't have as many words, I don't have the vocabulary. I think if I forced myself to read in Spanish - you know, I always say I'm going to, but I lose my patience reading in Spanish, because I really do read the way a third grader does, mouthing the words. That takes a long time!

I never write with any kind of message, and I don't think that this book, 'Goodbye, Stranger' has a message in the capital M form of the word but I do hope it makes people ask themselves questions about what they think.

We are never allowed to forget that some books are badly written; we should remember that sometimes they're badly read, too.

The sentences in the book of providence are sometimes long, and you must read a great way before you understand their meaning.

In reading some books we occupy ourselves chiefly with the thoughts of the author; in perusing others, exclusively with our own.

Learning how to be a good reader is what makes you a writer.

Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative reader is a rereader.

The Humans is a laugh-and-cry book. Troubling, thrilling, puzzling, believable and impossible. Matt Haig uses words like a tin-opener. We are the tin.