Does anyone have a good quote about the power of literature?

Question

If you have one could you please tell me the person/book who said it and the quote itself.

Answer 1

If then the power of speech is as great as any that can be named,—if the origin of language is by many philosophers considered nothing short of divine—if by means of words the secrets of the heart are brought to light, pain of soul is relieved, hidden grief is carried off, sympathy conveyed, experience recorded, and wisdom perpetuated,—if by great authors the many are drawn up into unity, national character is fixed, a people speaks, the past and the future, the East and the West are brought into communication with each other,—if such men are, in a word, the spokesmen and the prophets of the human family—it will not answer to make light of Literature or to neglect its study: rather we may be sure that, in proportion as we master it in whatever language, and imbibe its spirit, we shall ourselves become in our own measure the ministers of like benefits to others—be they many or few, be they in the obscurer or the more distinguished walks of life—who are united to us by social ties, and are within the sphere of our personal influence.

-John Henry Newman

Answer 2

"How has the human spirit ever survived the terrific literature with which it has to contend?"

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), U.S. poet.  Opus Posthumous, "Adagia" (1959).

"A peoples' literature is the great textbook for real knowledge of them.  The writings of the day show the greater quality of the people as no historical reconstruction can."

Edith Hamilton (1867-1965), U.S. classical scholar.  The Roman Way, Preface (1962).

Answer 3

When I look back, I am so impressed again

with the life-giving power of literature.

If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of

myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,

just as I did when I was young.

~ Maya Angelou ~

Answer 4

"Learn as if you were to live for ever

Live as if you were to die tomorrow"