Literary Devices Quotes

• The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything

  Aldous Huxley

  Literature, Devices, Essays

  Aldous Huxley, Robert S. Baker, James Sexton (2002). “Complete Essays: 1956-1963, and supplement, 1920-1948”, Ivan R. Dee Publisher

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• Fantasy is probably the oldest literary device for talking about reality.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Reality, Talking, Fantasy

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• It is interesting to note that poetry, a literary device whose very construct involves the use of words, is itself the word of choice by persons grasping to describe something so beautiful it is marvelously ineffable.

  Vanna Bonta

  Beautiful, Interesting, Poetry

  "The Cosmos as a Poem". Book by Vanna Bonta., 2010.

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• The thing to remember when you're writing," he said, " is, it's not whether or not what you put on paper is true. It's whether it wakes a truth in your reader. I don't care what literary device you might use, or belief systems you tap into--if you can make a story true for the reader, if you can give them a glimpse into another way of seeing the world, or another way that they can cope with their problems, then that story is a succes.

  Charles de Lint

  Writing, Might Use, Giving

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• God is a novelist. He uses all sorts of literary devices: alliteration, assonance, rhyme, synecdoche, onomatopoeia. But of all of these, His favorite is foreshadowing.And that is what God was doing at the Cloisters and with Eudora Welty. He was foreshadowing. He was laying traps, leaving clues, clues I could have seen had I been perceptive enough.

  Lauren F. Winner

  Leaving, Novelists, Use

  Lauren F. Winner (2002). “Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life”, p.58, Algonquin Books

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• Code is not like other how-computers-work books. It doesn't have big color illustrations of disk drives with arrows showing how the data sweeps into the computer. Code has no drawings of trains carrying a cargo of zeros and ones. Metaphors and similes are wonderful literary devices but they do nothing but obscure the beauty of technology.

  Charles Petzold

  Book, Technology, Illustration

  Charles Petzold (2000). “Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software”, p.4, Microsoft Press

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• Dictionary: a malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic

  Ambrose Bierce

  Growth, Language, Dictionary

  Ambrose Bierce (2013). “The Devil's Dictionary (or The Cynic's Wordbook: Unabridged with all the Definitions)”, p.42, e-artnow

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• HASH: There is no definition for this word - nobody knows what hash is.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Food, Cooking, Definitions

  Ambrose Bierce (1958). “The Devil's Dictionary: A Selection of the Bitter Definitions of Ambrose Bierce”, p.70, Prabhat Prakashan

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• Through humility, soul-searching, and prayerful contemplation we have gained a new understanding of certain dogmas. The church no longer believes in a literal hell where people suffer. This doctrine is incompatible with the infinite love of God. God is not a judge but a friend and a lover of humanity. God seeks not to condemn but only to embrace. Like the fable of Adam and Eve, we see hell as a literary device. Hell is merely a metaphor for the isolated soul, which like all souls ultimately will be united in love with God.

  Unknown

  Believe, Humility, Judging

  "Doomed to Hell Fire and Damn-the-Nation" by Joanna Perry-Folino, www.huffingtonpost.com. December 30, 2013.

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• Synesthesia has interested me for a long time, both as a literary device and as a puncturing of the membranes that organize how the world comes into someone's head.

  Leni Zumas

  Long, World, Membranes

  Source: therumpus.net

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• And it's kind of my own fault too, in the sense that I've used my own life as a literary device so much. I think people feel very comfortable reviewing the idea of me, as opposed to what I've actually written. I find that most of the time, when people write about one of my books, they're really just writing about what they think I may or may not represent, as sort of this abstract entity. Is that unfair? Not really. If I put myself in this position where I'm going to kind of weave elements of memoir into almost everything, well, I suppose that's going to happen.

  Chuck Klosterman

  Book, Writing, Thinking

  Interview with Noel Murray, www.avclub.com. November 15, 2006.

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• I should say that I'm not conscious of any particular style or any particular literary device when I am writing. I have written 22 books, and they are all very different. I have tried all kinds of genres.

  Isabel Allende

  Book, Writing, Style

  "Isabel Allende: Despite Terrorism, the World Is a Better Place Now Than Ever Before". Interview with Michael Skafidas, www.huffingtonpost.com.

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• In my experience when critics raise these objections, they invariably violate one of seventeen principles for interpreting the Scriptures....For example, assuming the unexplained is unexplainable....failing to understand the context of the passage....assuming a partial report is a false report...neglecting to interpret difficult passages in light of clear ones; basing a teaching on an obscure passage; forgetting that the Bible uses nontechnical, everyday language; failing to remember the Bible uses different literary devices.

  Norman Geisler

  Bible, Teaching, Light

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• Do you know what religion is, Martin, my friend? -I can barely remember Lord's Prayer. -A beautiful and well-crafted prayer. Poetry aside, a religion is really a moral code that is expressed through legends,myths, or any type of literary device in order to establish a system of beliefs, values , and rules with which to regulate a culture or a society.

  Carlos Ruiz Zafon

  Beautiful, Prayer, Order

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• Hash, x. There is no definition for this word - nobody knows what hash is. Famous, adj. Conspicuously miserable. Dictionary, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Growth, Definitions, Language

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• Of course I didn't pioneer the use of food in fiction: it has been a standard literary device since Chaucer and Rabelais, who used food wonderfully as a metaphor for sensuality.

  Joanne Harris

  Pioneers, Fiction, Use

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