There’s only one book I’ve read over and over. Because it reveals entire worlds in single sentences. And it triggered stand-alone thoughts for me, from so few words, that would keep me thinking for hours.
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you”
Reminds me that there’s more than one reality. Yours. And everybody else’s.
“He knew everything there was about literature, except how to enjoy it.”
Reminds me that experiences beat knowledge.
“He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.”
Reminds me that great writing can make my thoughts swing left, right and left again with astonishingly few words.
And,
“Anything worth dying for, is certainly worth living for.”
Makes me believe that a nine word sentence might just save a life.
But best of all, and briefest of all, when a smirking interviewer pointed out to Joseph Heller that he – Joseph Heller – had never written a better novel than his very first novel, Catch 22, Heller replied:
“Who has?”
Perfect.