Great literature should do some good to the reader: must quicken his perception though dull, and sharpen his discrimination though blunt, and mellow the rawness of his personal opinions.
A. E. Housman

However, intention needn't enter in, and if a reader sees things in a religious way, and the work is dogmatically acceptable, then I don't see why it should not be interpreted in that way, as well as in others.
James Schuyler

Humour is a fine line to walk in poetry, as in fiction. I just think it's harder to write. It's harder to keep the respect of the reader too.
George Murray

Hypocrite reader my fellow my brother!
Charles Baudelaire

I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.
Isaac Asimov

I came up with new leads for game stories by being observant and clever, by using the many gifts of the English language to intrigue and hook a reader.
Dick Schaap

I can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss - you can't do it alone.
John Cheever

I concentrate on the lives of individuals whom the reader comes to know and feel with intimately.
Helen Dunmore

I do have to earn a living, so I'm conscious of probable reactions from readers, but the most important one is still the awareness that if I'm not enjoying a story, the reader won't either.
Thomas Perry

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent narrative or argument that the reader can follow.
Howard Nemerov

I do want to write about Jane Whitefield again, but only when I have a good enough idea - something I've figured out about her that's news and that's worth a reader's time.
Thomas Perry

I don't believe in writing anything that I don't know about or haven't researched about personally. I like to transport the reader to places, and in order to do that I have to do the research.
Jackie Collins

I don't know whether a poem has be there to help to develop something. I think it's there for itself, for what the reader finds in it.
Marilyn Hacker

I don't think anyone wants a reader to be completely lost - certainly not to the point of giving up - but there's something to be said for a book that isn't instantly disposable, that rewards a second reading.
John M. Ford

I don't think the author should make the reader do that much work to remember who somebody is.
Kevin J. Anderson

I feel that these stories are being written to articulate certain confusions and disappointments, and I do mean to shake up the reader, and I do hope they're on target.
Ann Beattie

I get to show the reader the essence of the book without giving anything away.
Mary Grandpre

I go to great lengths to make certain situations feel right to the reader.
Sidney Sheldon

I had started off, before I ever got an acting job, working at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions as a reader. I was always interested in that side of the camera.
Mira Sorvino

I have been a reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy for a long time, since I was 11 or 12 I think, so I understand it and I'm not at all surprised that readers of the genre might enjoy my books.
Jean M. Auel