Literary Excerpts

A Selection of Great Prose

We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams. World-losers and world-forsakers, Upon whom the pale moon gleams; Yet we are the movers and shakers, Of the world forever, it seems.
— Arthur O’Shaughnessy, Poems of Arthur O’Shaughnessy

I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.
— Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.
— Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451