Book Quotes (72 quotes) Buch der Natur. Book of Nature.

Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus Phrase also written by Paracelsus following the title of the book by Konrad of Megenberg, Buch der Natur (c. 1350). Science quotes on: | Nature (452) The Athanasian Creed is to me light and intelligible reading in comparison with much that now passes for science. Samuel Butler Geoffrey Keynes and Brian Hill (eds.), Samuel Butlers Notebooks (1951), 125. Science quotes on: | Science (721) A book is a mirror: when a monkey looks in, no apostle can look out. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Aphorisms (1775-1779) trans. Franz H. Mautner and Henry Hatfield. In Fred R. Shapiro and Joseph Epstein, The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), 459:2. A man would have to be an idiot to write a book of laws for an apple tree telling it to bear apples and not thorns, seeing that the apple-tree will do it naturally and far better than any laws or teaching can prescribe. Martin Luther On Secular Authority (1523). In Harro Hpfl (ed.), Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority (1991), 9. Science quotes on: | Apple (12) | Bear (3) | Better (22) | Idiot (8) | Law (237) | Natural (26) | Teaching (50) | Thorn (2) | Tree (63) | Writing (38) After the birth of printing books became widespread. Hence everyone throughout Europe devoted himself to the study of literature... Every year, especially since 1563, the number of writings published in every field is greater than all those produced in the past thousand years. Through them there has today been created a new theology and a new jurisprudence; the Paracelsians have created medicine anew and the Copernicans have created astronomy anew. I really believe that at last the world is alive, indeed seething, and that the stimuli of these remarkable conjunctions did not act in vain. Johannes Kepler De Stella Nova, On the New Star (1606), Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke (1937- ), Vol. 1, 330-2. Quoted in N. Jardine, The Birth of History and Philosophy of Science: Kepler's A Defence of Tycho Against Ursus With Essays on its Provenance and Significance (1984), 277-8. Science quotes on: | Astronomy (94) | Nicolaus Copernicus (28) | Medicine (178) | Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (13) | Publication (70) Among the older records, we find chapter after chapter of which we can read the characters, and make out their meaning: and as we approach the period of man's creation, our book becomes more clear, and nature seems to speak to us in language so like our own, that we easily comprehend it. But just as we begin to enter on the history of physical changes going on before our eyes, and in which we ourselves bear a part, our chronicle seems to fail usa

leaf has been torn out from nature's record, and the succession of events is almost hidden from our eyes. Adam Sedgwick Letter 1 to William Wordsworth. Quoted in the appendix to W. Wordsworth, A Complete Guide to the Lakes, Comprising Minute Direction for the Tourist, with Mr Wordsworth's Description of the Scenery of the County and Three Letters upon the Geology of the Lake District (1842), 14. Science quotes on: | Approach (14) | Chapter (2) | Character (30) | Chronicle (4) | Clarity (20) | Comprehension (23) | Creation (108) | Enter (3) | Event (39) | Failure (50) | Hidden (7) | History (129) | Language (60) | Leaf (14) | Mankind (88) | Meaning (41) | Nature (452) | Old (12) | Period (15) | Physical Change (3) | Record (14) | Record (14) | Speaking (22) | Succession (25) | Tear (11) Anyone who has had actual contact with the making of the inventions that built the radio art knows that these inventions have been the product of experiment and work based on physical reasoning, rather than on the mathematicians' calculations and formulae. Precisely the opposite impression is obtained from many of our present day text books and publications. Edwin Armstrong Attributed. Science quotes on: | Experiment (342) | Invention (134) | Logic (114) | Mathematics (297) | Publication (70) | Radio (10) Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. Mark Twain In Mark Twain and Alex Ayres (ed.), The Wit & Wisdom of Mark Twain (1987), 97. Science quotes on: | Death (165) | Health (83) | Read (16) Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas; he that reads books of science, thogh without any fixed desire of improvement, will grow more knowing Samuel Johnson In Samuel Johnson and W. Jackson Bate (Ed.), ',The Adventurer, No. 137, Tuesday, 26 Febraury 1754.' The Selected Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler (1968), 273. Science quotes on: | Knowledge (578) | Understanding (189) Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books. Sir Francis Bacon A Proposition Touching the Compiling and Amendment of the Laws of England (written 1616). Science quotes on: | Science (721) Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education. Alfred Whitney Griswold From Essays on Education. In Alfred Whitney Griswold, 1906-1963: In Memoriam (1964), 24.

Science quotes on: | Bad (17) | Ban (4) | Burning (12) | Education (153) | Good (59) | History (129) | Idea (169) | Inquisitor (2) | Jail (2) | Liberal (3) | Long (11) | Loss (32) | Path (19) | Run (6) | Sure (9) | Weapon (28) | Wisdom (72) Darwin's book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the class struggle in history. One has to put up with the crude English method of development, of course. Despite all deficiencies not only is the death-blow dealt here for the first time to 'teleology' in the natural sciences, but their rational meaning is empirically explained. Karl Marx Marx to Lasalle, 16 Jan 1861. In Marx-Engels Selected Correspondence, 1846-95, trans. Donna Torr (1934), 125. Science quotes on: | Crude (4) | Charles Darwin (200) | Deficiency (4) | Development (91) | Empiricism (13) | England (13) | Explanation (71) | Importance (78) | Meaning (41) | Natural Science (25) | Origin Of Species (33) | Rational (12) | Teleology (2) Dirac politely refused Robert's [Robert Oppenheimer] two proffered books: reading books, the Cambridge theoretician announced gravely, 'interfered with thought'. Luis W. Alvarez Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist (1987), 87. Science quotes on: | Paul A. M. Dirac (32) | J. Robert Oppenheimer (20) Doubtless many can recall certain books which have greatly influenced their lives, and in my own case one stands out especiallya translation of Hofmeister's epoch-making treatise on the comparative morphology of plants. This book, studied while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, was undoubtedly the most important factor in determining the trend of my botanical investigation for many years. Douglas Houghton Campbell D.H. Campbell, 'The Centenary of Wilhelm Hofmeister', Science (1925), 62, No. 1597, 127128. Cited in William C. Steere, Obituary, 'Douglas Houghton Campbell', American Bryological and Lichenological Society, The Bryologist (1953), 127. The book to which Cambell refers is W. Hofmeister, On the Germination, development, and Fructification of the Higher Cryptogamia, and on the Fructification of the Coniferae, trans. by Frederick Currey (1862). Science quotes on: | Botany (27) | Importance (78) | Influence (39) | Investigation (64) | Morphology (10) | Plant (79) | Recollection (3) | Study (104) | Treatise (7) | Undergraduate (3) Each of us has read somewhere that in New Guinea pidgin the word for 'piano' is (I use English spelling) 'this fellow you hit teeth belonging to him he squeal all same pig'. I am inclined to doubt whether this expression is authentic; it looks just like the kind of thing a visitor to the Islands would facetiously invent. But I accept 'cut grass belong head belong me' for 'haircut' as genuine... Such phrases seem very funny to us, and make us feel very superior to the ignorant foreigners who use long winded expressions for simple matters. And then it is our turn to name quite a simple thing, a small uncomplicated molecule consisting of nothing more than a measly 11 carbons, seven hydrogens, one nitrogen and six oxygens. We sharpen our pencils, consult our rule books and at last come up with 3-[(1, 3- dihydro-1, 3-dioxo-2Hisoindol-2-yl) oxy]-3-oxopropanoic acid. A name like that could drive any self-respecting Papuan to piano-playing. Robert Schoenfeld The Chemist's English (1990), 3rd Edition, 57.

Science quotes on: | Carbon (20) | Complication (10) | Expression (32) | Hydrogen (20) | Ignorance (92) | Invention (134) | Matter (114) | Molecule (71) | Name (43) | Oxygen (27) | Piano (6) | Rule (41) | Simple (12) Even fairly good students, when they have obtained the solution of the problem and written down neatly the argument, shut their books and look for something else. Doing so, they miss an important and instructive phase of the work. ... A good teacher should understand and impress on his students the view that no problem whatever is completely exhausted. George Plya In How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method (2004), 14. Science quotes on: | Argument (21) | Completeness (9) | Exhaustion (7) | Good (59) | Importance (78) | Impress (5) | Instruction (11) | Look (20) | Miss (4) | Obtain (13) | Phase (6) | Problem (143) | Shut (2) | Solution (100) | Student (37) | Teacher (45) | Understanding (189) | View (39) | Work (142) | Writing (38) Evolution: At the Mind's Cinema I turn the handle and the story starts: Reel after reel is all astronomy, Till life, enkindled in a niche of sky, Leaps on the stage to play a million parts. Life leaves the slime and through all ocean darts; She conquers earth, and raises wings to fly; Then spirit blooms, and learns how not to die,Nesting beyond the grave in others' hearts. I turn the handle: other men like me Have made the film: and now I sit and look In quiet, privileged like Divinity To read the roaring world as in a book. If this thy past, where shall they future climb, O Spirit, built of Elements and Time? Sir Julian Huxley 'Evolution: At the Mind's Cinema' (1922), in The Captive Shrew and Other Poems of a Biologist (1932), 55. Science quotes on: | Astronomy (94) | Death (165) | Element (56) | Evolution (306) | Film (3) | Future (79) | Grave (6) | Life (359) | Life (359) | Mind (218) | Past (25) | Poem (73) | Sky (24) | Slime (2) | Time (119) For books [Charles Darwin] had no respect, but merely considered them as tools to be worked with. ... he would cut a heavy book in half, to make it more convenient to hold. He used to boast that he had made Lyell publish the second edition of one of his books in two volumes, instead of in one, by telling him how ho had been obliged to cut it in half. ... his library was not ornamental, but was striking from being so evidently a working collection of books. Francis Darwin In Charles Darwin: His Life Told in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of his Published Letters (1908), 96. Science quotes on: | Boast (5) | Collection (18) | Convenience (8) | Cut (8) | Charles Darwin (200) | Half (6) | Heavy (2) | Library (19) | Sir Charles Lyell (36) | Ornament (8) | Respect (18) | Tool (24) | Volume (5)

For Christmas, 1939, a girl friend gave me a book token which I used to buy Linus Pauling's recently published Nature of the Chemical Bond. His book transformed the chemical flatland of my earlier textbooks into a world of three-dimensional structures. Max Ferdinand Perutz 'What Holds Molecules Together', in I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier (1998), 165. Science quotes on: | Chemical Bond (5) | Dimension (11) | Friend (14) | Linus Pauling (32) | Structure (82) | Textbook (10) | Token (3) | Transformation (20) | World (141) From the age of 13, I was attracted to physics and mathematics. My interest in these subjects derived mostly from popular science books that I read avidly. Early on I was fascinated by theoretical physics and determined to become a theoretical physicist. I had no real idea what that meant, but it seemed incredibly exciting to spend one's life attempting to find the secrets of the universe by using one's mind. David Gross From 'Autobiography', in Tore Frngsmyr (ed.) Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2004, (2005). Science quotes on: | Attraction (15) | Career (26) | Determination (27) | Exciting (2) | Fascination (12) | Find (29) | Idea (169) | Incredible (5) | Inspiration (19) | Interest (53) | Life (359) | Mathematics (297) | Mind (218) | Popular (6) | Reading (22) | Science (721) | Secret (28) | Subject (35) | Theoretical Physics (11) | Universe (240) | Use (38) I always feel as if my books came half out of Lyell's brain... & therefore that when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes. Charles Darwin Letter to Leonard Horner, 29 August 1844. In F. Burkhardt and S. Smith (eds.), The Correspondence of Charles Darwin 1844-1846 (1987), Vol. 3, 55. Science quotes on: | Sir Charles Lyell (36) I can assure you, reader, that in a very few hours, even during the first day, you will learn more natural philosophy about things contained in this book, than you could learn in fifty years by reading the theories and opinions of the ancient philosophers. Enemies of science will scoff at the astrologers: saying, where is the ladder on which they have climbed to heaven, to know the foundation of the stars? But in this respect I am exempt from such scoffing; for in proving my written reason, I satisfy sight, hearing, and touch: for this reason, defamers will have no power over me: as you will see when you come to see me in my little Academy. Bernard Palissy The Admirable Discourses (1580), trans. Aurele La Rocque (1957), 27. Science quotes on: | Academy (6) | Ancient (17) | Assurance (5) | Astrologer (4) | Climb (5) | Contain (3) | Day (17) | Enemy (20) | Exemption (2) | Fifty (3) | First (22) | Foundation (23) | Hearing (17) | Heaven (46) | Hour (7) | Knowledge (578) | Ladder (3) | Learning (111) | Natural Philosophy (9) | Opinion (68) | Philosopher (55) | Power (62) | Proof (117) | Reader (7) | Reading (22) | Reason (136) | Reason (136) | Respect (18) | Satisfaction (22) | Science (721) | Sight (10) | Star (109) | Theory (311) | Touch (12) | Writing (38) | Year (28) I expect to think that I would rather be author of your book [The Origin of Species] than of any other on Nat. Hist. Science. Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker

Letter to Darwin (12 Dec 1859). Quoted in Leonard Huxley, Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1918), Vol. 1, 511. Science quotes on: | Charles Darwin (200) | Evolution (306) | Origin Of Species (33) I had a dislike for [mathematics], and ... was hopelessly short in algebra. ... [One extraordinary teacher of mathematics] got the whole year's course into me in exactly six [after-school] lessons of half an hour each. And how? More accurately, why? Simply because he was an algebra fanaticbecause he believed that algebra was not only a science of the utmost importance, but also one of the greatest fascination. ... [H]e convinced me in twenty minutes that ignorance of algebra was as calamitous, socially and intellectually, as ignorance of table mannersThat acquiring its elements was as necessary as washing behind the ears. So I fell upon the book and gulped it voraciously. ... To this day I comprehend the binomial theorem. H. L. Mencken In Prejudices: third series (1922), 261-262. For a longer excerpt, see H. L. Mencken's Recollections of School Algebra. Science quotes on: | Acquisition (18) | Algebra (19) | Binomial (2) | Calamity (3) | Comprehension (23) | Convincing (5) | Course (18) | Ear (8) | Extraordinary (15) | Fanatic (2) | Fascination (12) | Greatest (16) | Half (6) | Hopelessness (3) | Hour (7) | How (3) | Ignorance (92) | Importance (78) | Intellect (83) | Lesson (12) | Manners (3) | Mathematics (297) | Minute (4) | Necessity (66) | Society (73) | Table (5) | Teacher (45) | Theorem (24) | Utmost (2) | Washing (3) | Whole (24) | Why (4) | Year (28) I have just finished my sketch of my species theory. If as I believe that my theory is true & if it be accepted even by one competent judge, it will be a considerable step in science. I therefore write this, in case of my sudden death, as my most solemn & last request, which I am sure you will consider the same as if legally entered in my will, that you will devote 400 to its publication & further will yourself, or through Hensleigh [Wedgwood], take trouble in promoting it. Charles Darwin Letter to Emma Darwin, 5 July 1844. In F. Burkhardt and S. Smith (eds.), The Correspondence of Charles Darwin 1844-1846 (1987), Vol. 3, 43. Science quotes on: | Origin Of Species (33) I have sold more books on physics than Madonna has on sex. [Hawking adopted this statement from a remark made to him by his former post-doc, Nathan Myhrvold.] Stephen W. Hawking The Illustrated A Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition (1996), Foreward. I hope that in due time the chemists will justify their proceedings by some large generalisations deduced from the infinity of results which they have collected. For me I am left hopelessly behind and I will acknowledge to you that through my bad memory organic chemistry is to me a sealed book. Some of those here, Hoffman [August Hofmann] for instance, consider all this however as scaffolding, which will disappear when the structure is built. I hope the structure will be worthy of the labour. I should expect a better and a quicker result from the study of the powers of matter, but then I have a predilection that way and am probably prejudiced in judgment. Michael Faraday

Letter to Christian Schnbein (9 Dec 1852), The Letters of Faraday and Schoenbein, 18361862 (1899), 209-210. Science quotes on: | Acknowledgment (4) | Better (22) | Building (26) | Chemist (38) | Collection (18) | Disappearance (8) | Generalization (15) | August Wilhelm von Hofmann (5) | Hopelessness (3) | Infinity (40) | Judgment (29) | Labor (11) | Matter (114) | Memory (31) | Organic Chemistry (24) | Power (62) | Prejudice (25) | Quickness (2) | Result (97) | Seal (6) | Sealed Book (2) | Structure (82) | Study (104) | Worth (14) I profess to learn and to teach anatomy not from books but from dissections, not from the tenets of Philosophers but from the fabric of Nature. William Harvey De Motu Cordis (1628), The Circulation of the Blood and Other Writings, trans. Kenneth J. Franklin (1957), Dedication to Doctor Argent, 7. Science quotes on: | Anatomy (29) | Dissection (12) If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it. Jean Rostand Penses d'un Biologiste (1939). Translated in The Substance of Man (1962), 89. Science quotes on: | Death (165) | Delay (2) | Deprivation (4) | Discovery (305) | Do (17) | Else (4) | Given (2) | Great (30) | Heredity (37) | Humanity (31) | Later (3) | Law (237) | Gregor Mendel (17) | Never (17) | Premature (8) | Scientist (175) | Someone (3) | Unknown (30) | Write (14) | Writing (38) If I may paraphrase Hobbes's well-known aphorism, I would say that 'books are the money of Literature, but only the counters of Science.' Thomas Henry Huxley 'Universities: Actual and Ideal' (1874). In Collected Essays (1893), Vol. 3, 213. Science quotes on: | Aphorism (11) | Thomas Hobbes (14) | Literature (28) | Science (721) In 1912 I went to a book sale and bought ten books for fifty cents. One of the books was by Ostwald The Scientific Foundations of Analytical Chemistry. Ostwald wrote at the beginning of that book that analytical chemists are the maidservants of other chemists. This made quite an impression on me, because I didn't want to be a maidservant. Izaak Kolthoff Comment during interview, Beckman Center (15 March 1984), as recorded on tape held by The Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia. Quotation provided by W. H. Brock. Science quotes on: | Career (26) | Impression (23) | Ostwald_Carl (2) In 1944 Erwin Schroedinger, stimulated intellectually by Max Delbruck, published a little book called What is life? It was an inspiration to the first of the molecular biologists, and has been, along with Delbruck himself, credited for directing the research during the next decade that solved the mystery of how 'like begat like.' Max was awarded this Prize in 1969, and rejoicing in it, he also lamented that the work for which he was honored before all the peoples of the world was not something which he felt he could share with more than a handful. Samuel Beckett's contributions to literature, being honored at the same time, seemed to Max somehow universally accessible to anyone. But not his. In his lecture here Max imagined his imprisonment in an ivory tower of science.

 Kary B. Mullis 'The Polymerase Chain Reaction', Nobel Lecture (8 Dec 1993). In Nobel Lectures: Chemistry 1991-1995 (1997), 103. Science quotes on: | Accessible (2) | Contribution (19) | Credit (6) | Max Ludwig Henning Delbrck (2) | Honour (17) | Inspiration (19) | Intellect (83) | Ivory Tower (2) | Life (359) | Literature (28) | Mystery (61) | Nobel Prize (16) | Publication (70) | Research (308) | Erwin Schrdinger (18) | Share (7) | Simulation (4) | Work (142) In nature's infinite book of secrecy A little I can read. William Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra (1606-7), I, ii. Science quotes on: | Infinity (40) | Little (10) | Nature (452) | Reading (22) | Secret (28) In science, read, by preference, the newest works; in literature, the oldest. Earl Edward George Bulwer-Lytton Caxtoniana: A Series of Essays on Life, Literature, and Manners (1863), Vol. I, 169. Science quotes on: | Literature (28) In the company of friends, writers can discuss their books, economists the state of the economy, lawyers their latest cases, and businessmen their latest acquisitions, but mathematicians cannot discuss their mathematics at all. And the more profound their work, the less understandable it is. Alfred W. Adler Reflections: Mathematics and Creativity', New Yorker (1972), 47, No. 53, 39-45. In Douglas M. Campbell, John C. Higgins (eds.), Mathematics: People, Problems, Results (1984), Vol. 2, 7. Science quotes on: | Author (14) | Businessman (2) | Economist (2) | Friend (14) | Lawyer (11) | Mathematician (91) | Mathematics (297) | Understanding (189) | Writer (10) It is a most gratifying sign of the rapid progress of our time that our best text-books become antiquated so quickly. Theodor Billroth The Medical Sciences in the German Universities (1924), 49. Science quotes on: | Progress (173) It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original. Charles Darwin Letter to his publisher, John Murray (5 Apr 1959). In Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887), Vol. 2, 155. Science quotes on: | Belief (111) | Conceit (3) | Interest (53) | Originality (4) | Public (19) | Subject (35) | View (39) Let the young know they will never find a more interesting, more instructive book than the patient himself. Giorgio Baglivi Attributed. Science quotes on: | Patient (48) | Physician (167)

My Design in this Book is not to explain the Properties of Light by Hypotheses, but to propose and prove them by Reason and Experiments: In order to which, I shall premise the following Definitions and Axioms. Sir Isaac Newton Opticks (1704), Book 1, Part 1, Introduction, 1. Science quotes on: | Axiom (10) | Definition (61) | Experiment (342) | Explanation (71) | Hypothesis (139) | Light (92) | Proof (117) | Property (33) | Proposition (25) | Reason (136) Nothing holds me ... I will indulge in my sacred fury; I will triumph over mankind by the honest confession that I have stolen the golden vases of the Egyptians to build up a tabernacle for my God, far away from the confines of Egypt. If you forgive me, I rejoice ; if you are angry, I can bear it. The die is cast; the book is written, to be read either now or by posterity, I care not which. It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer. Johannes Kepler As given in David Brewster, The Martyrs of Science (1841), 217. Science quotes on: | Century (27) | God (195) | Read (16) | Wait (12) Oh God! that one might read the book of fate, And see the revolution of the times Make mountains level, and the continent, Weary of solid firmness, melt itself Into the sea. William Shakespeare Henry V (1599), I, ii. Science quotes on: | Continent (17) | Fate (13) | Level (13) | Melting (4) | Mountain (50) | Revolution (29) | Sea (44) Only those works which are well-written will pass to posterity: the amount of knowledge, the uniqueness of the facts, even the novelty of the discoveries are no guarantees of immortality ... These things are exterior to a man but style is the man himself. Comte Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon 'Discours prononc dans l'Acadmie franaise, Le Samedi 25 Aout 1753', Histoire Naturelle, Gnrale et Particulire, Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi (1753), Vol. 7, xvi-xvii. Science quotes on: | Discovery (305) | Fact (263) | Knowledge (578) People have now a-days got a strange opinion that every thing should be taught by lectures. Now, I cannot see that lectures can do as much good as reading the books from which the lectures are taken. Samuel Johnson Entry for Feb 1776. In George Birkbeck-Hill (ed.), Boswell's Life of Johnson (1934-50), Vol. 2, 7. Science quotes on: | Lecture (25) | Reading (22) People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are. ... In the fiery alphabet of every sunset is written to be continued in our next. Gilbert Keith Chesterton

'On Certain Modern Writers and the institution of the Family' Heretics (1903). Collected in G. K. Chesterton and Dale Ahlquist (ed.), In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton (2011), 82. Science quotes on: | Alphabet (4) | Continuation (10) | Fire (52) | Form (41) | Literature (28) | Metaphysics (23) | Next (3) | Novel (5) | People (60) | Popular (6) | Reading (22) | Reason (136) | Science (721) | Simplicity (79) | Sunset (6) | Truth (376) | Wonder (51) | Writing (38) Printer's ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries. Christopher Morley The Haunted Bookshop (1919), 127. Science quotes on: | Gunpowder (8) Scientific truth, like puristic truth, must come about by controversy. Personally this view is abhorrent to me. It seems to mean that scientific truth must transcend the individual, that the best hope of science lies in its greatest minds being often brilliantly and determinedly wrong, but in opposition, with some third, eclectically minded, middle-of-the-road nonentity seizing the prize while the great fight for it, running off with it, and sticking it into a textbook for sophomores written from no point of view and in defense of nothing whatsoever. I hate this view, for it is not dramatic and it is not fair; and yet I believe that it is the verdict of the history of science. Edwin G. Boring 'The Psychology of Coutroversy', (1929). In History, Psychology and Science: Selected Papers (1963), 68. Science quotes on: | History Of Science (25) | Men Of Science (84) | Truth (376) Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; other to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. [The studies pass into the manners.] Sir Francis Bacon 'Of Studies' (1625) in James Spedding, Robert Ellis and Douglas Heath (eds.), The Works of Francis Bacon (1887-1901), Vol. 6, 498. The design of a book is the pattern of reality controlled and shaped by the mind of the writer. This is completely understood about poetry or fiction, but it is too seldom realized about books of fact. And yet the impulse which drives a man to poetry will send a man into the tide pools and force him to report what he finds there. Why is an expedition to Tibet undertaken, or a sea bottom dredged? Why do men, sitting at the microscope, examine the calcareous plates of a sea cucumber and give the new species a name, and write about it possessively? It

would be good to know the impulse truly, not to be confused by the services to science platitudes or the other little mazes into which we entice our minds so that they will not know what we are doing. John Steinbeck In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts, Introduction to Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), opening paragraph. John Steinbeck had an interest in marine science before he met Ricketts. This book is an account of their trip in the Gulf of California, once called the Sea of Cortez, and recording the marine life to be found there. Science quotes on: | Expedition (4) | Fact (263) | Fiction (6) | Impulse (8) | Man (222) | Maze (6) | Microscope (40) | Mind (218) | Name (43) | Platitude (2) | Poetry (56) | Pool (2) | Reality (52) | Report (9) | Sea (44) | Species (77) | Tide (6) The frontispiece of Mr. Lyell's book is enough to throw a Wernerian into fits. George Julius Poulett Scrope Review of Murchison's Silurian System, Quarterly Review (1839), 64, 112. Science quotes on: | Fit (10) | Sir Charles Lyell (36) The glimpses of chemical industry's services to man afforded by this book could be presented only by utilizing innumerable chemical products. The first outline of its plan began to take shape on chemically produced notepaper with the aid of a chemically-treated graphite held in a synthetic resin pencil. Early corrections were made with erasers of chemically compounded rubber. In its ultimate haven on the shelves of your bookcase, it will rest on a coating of chemical varnish behind a pane of chemically produced glass. Nowhere has it been separated from that industry's products. Abraham Cressy Morrison Man in a Chemical World (1937), L'Envoi, 284. Science quotes on: | Chemical (22) | Correction (18) | Glass (17) | Industry (41) | Paper (19) | Pencil (2) | Product (23) | Shelf (2) | Synthetic (2) The great revelation of the quantum theory was that features of discreteness were discovered in the Book of Nature, in a context in which anything other than continuity seemed to be absurd according to the views held until then. Erwin Schrdinger What is Life? (1944), 48. Science quotes on: | Absurd (7) | Context (5) | Continuity (16) | Discovery (305) | Feature (10) | Nature (452) | Quantum Theory (34) | Revelation (18) | View (39) The increasing technicality of the terminology employed is also a serious difficulty. It has become necessary to learn an extensive vocabulary before a book in even a limited department of science can be consulted with much profit. This change, of course, has its advantages for the initiated, in securing precision and concisement of statement; but it tends to narrow the field in which an investigator can labour, and it cannot fail to become, in the future, a serious impediment to wide inductive generalisations. Thomas George Bonney Year Book of Science (1892), preface, from review in Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science (14 Apr 1892), 65, 190. Science quotes on: | Advantage (20) | Conciseness (2) | Consultation (2) | Department (9) | Difficulty (57) | Extensive (6) | Failure (50) | Field (49) | Generalization (15) | Impediment (3) | Induction (18) | Investigator (10) | Narrow (7) | Necessity (66) | Precision (18) | Statement (24)

The love of experiment was very strong in him [Charles Darwin], and I can remember the way he would say, I shan't be easy till I have tried it, as if an outside force were driving him. He enjoyed experimenting much more than work which only entailed reasoning, and when he was engaged on one of his books which required argument and the marshalling of facts, he felt experimental work to be a rest or holiday. Francis Darwin In Charles Darwin: His Life Told in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of his Published Letters (1908), 95. Science quotes on: | Biography (194) | Charles Darwin (200) | Enjoyment (9) | Experiment (342) | Fact (263) | Holiday (2) | Reasoning (48) | Rest (21) The only objections that have occurred to me are, 1st that you have loaded yourself with an unnecessary difficulty in adopting Natura non facit saltum so unreservedly. . . . And 2nd, it is not clear to me why, if continual physical conditions are of so little moment as you suppose, variation should occur at all. However, I must read the book two or three times more before I presume to begin picking holes. Comments after reading Darwin's book, Origin of Species.] Thomas Henry Huxley Letter to Charles Darwin (23 Nov 1859). In Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), Charles Darwin: His Life Told in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters (1892), 214. Science quotes on: | Condition (50) | Criticism (31) | Difficult (4) | Objection (7) | Occur (2) | Read (16) | Unnecessary (4) | Variation (28) The only place where a dollar is still worth one hundred cents today is in the problems in an arithmetic book. Anonymous In Evan Esar, 20,000 Quips and Quotes, 509. Science quotes on: | Joke (22) | Mathematics (297) | Money (80) The text-book is rare that stimulates its reader to ask, Why is this so? Or, How does this connect with what has been read elsewhere? J. Norman Collie Preface to A. W. Stewart, Recent Advances in Organic Chemistry (1908), xiv. Science quotes on: | Enquiry (69) The understanding between a non-technical writer and his reader is that he shall talk more or less like a human being and not like an Act of Parliament. I take it that the aim of such books must be to convey exact thought in inexact language... he can never succeed without the cooperation of the reader. Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington Messenger Lectures (1934), New Pathways in Science (1935), 279. Science quotes on: | Publication (70) The words are strung together, with their own special grammarthe laws of quantum theoryto form sentences, which are molecules. Soon we have books, entire libraries, made out of molecular sentences. The universe is like a library in which the words are atoms. Just look at what has been written with these hundred words! Our own bodies are books in that

library, specified by the organization of moleculesbut the universe and literature are organizations of identical, interchangeable objects; they are information systems. Heinz R. Pagels In The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature (1983), 255. Science quotes on: | Atom (152) | Body (71) | Element (56) | Entire (2) | Formation (29) | Grammar (4) | Hundred (4) | Identical (7) | Information (34) | Library (19) | Literature (28) | Molecule (71) | Object (33) | Organization (44) | Quantum Theory (34) | Sentence (7) | Special (18) | Specification (3) | String (10) | System (51) | Universe (240) | Word (81) | Writing (38) TO MY WIFE-who made the writing of my previous book a pleasure and writing of the present one a necessity. Herbert C. Brown Boranes in Organic Chemistry (1972), dedication. Science quotes on: | Necessity (66) | Wife (8) To present a scientific subject in an attractive and stimulating manner is an artistic task, similar to that of a novelist or even a dramatic writer. The same holds for writing textbooks. Max Born My Life & My Views (1968), 48. Science quotes on: | Presentation (8) Until I became a published writer, I remained completely ignorant of books on how to write and courses on the subject ... they would have spoiled my natural style; made me observe caution; would have hedged me with rules. Isaac Asimov In Isaac Asimov and Janet Asimov (ed.), It's Been a Good Life (2002), 38. Science quotes on: | Caution (8) | Ignorance (92) | Publication (70) | Rule (41) | Style (5) | Writer (10) What is there about fire that's so lovely? ... It's perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did. Or almost perpetual motion. ... What is fire? It's a mystery. Scientists give us gobbledegook about friction and molecules. But they don't really know. [Fahrenheit 451 refers to the temperature at which book paper burns. In the short novel of this title 'firemen' burn books forbidden by the totalitaran regime.] Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953, 1996), 115. Science quotes on: | Fire (52) | Friction (2) | Invention (134) | Molecule (71) | Mystery (61) | Perpetual Motion (5) | Scientist (175) What more powerful form of study of mankind could there be than to read our own instruction book? Francis S. Collins From White House press conference broadcast on the day of the publication of the first draft of the human genome. Quoted in CNN.com, transcript, 'President Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair Deliver Remarks on Human Genome Milestone' (26 Jun 2000). Science quotes on: | Human Genome (8) | Instruction (11) | Mankind (88) When I arrived in California to join the faculty of the New University which opened in October 1891, it was near the end of the dry season and probably no rain had fallen for three

or four months. The bare cracked adobe fields surrounding the new buildings ... offered a decidedly unpromising outlook... A month or two later, however, there was a magical transformation. With the advent of the autumn rains the whole country quickly turned green, and a profusion of liverworts such as I had never seen before appeared on the open ground... I soon realized that right in my own backyard, so to speak, was a wealth of material such as I had never imagined would be my good fortune to encounter. ... Such an invitation to make a comprehensive study of the structure and development of the liverworts could not be resisted; and the next three years were largely devoted to this work which finally resulted in the publication of 'The Mosses and Ferns' in 1895. Douglas Houghton Campbell In The Structure and Development of Mosses and Ferns (Archegoniatae) (1905, 3rd ed. 1918, rev. 1928). Cited in William C. Steere, Obituary, 'Douglas Houghton Campbell', American Bryological and Lichenological Society, The Bryologist (1953), 131. Science quotes on: | Backyard (2) | Encounter (6) | Fortune (13) | Imagination (104) | Invitation (4) | Material (38) | Publication (70) | Rain (13) | Research (308) | Study (104) | Wealth (22) Whenever a text-book is written of real educational worth, you may be quite certain that some reviewer will say that it will be difficult to teach from it. Of course it will be difficult to teach from it. It it were easy, the book ought to be burned. Alfred North Whitehead The Aims of Education and Other Essays (1967), 5. Science quotes on: | Education (153) Whether we like it or not, the ultimate goal of every science is to become trivial, to become a well-controlled apparatus for the solution of schoolbook exercises or for practical application in the construction of engines. Aharon Katchalsky-Katzir 'Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics', International Science and Technology (Oct 1963), 44. Science quotes on: | Application (52) | Engine (8) | Exercise (23) | Goal (26) | Trivial (11) Why did I decide to undertake my doctorate research in the exotic field of boron hydrides? As it happened, my girl friend, Sarah Baylen, soon to become my wife, presented me with a graduation gift, Alfred Stock's book, The Hydrides of Boron and Silicon. I read this book and became interested in the subject. How did it happen that she selected this particular book? This was the time of the Depression. None of us had much money. It appears she selected as her gift the most economical chemistry book ($2.06) available in the University of Chicago bookstore. Such are the developments that can shape a career. Herbert C. Brown From Little Acorns Through to Tall Oaks From Boranes Through Organoboranes', Nobel Lecture, 8 December 1979. In Nobel Lectures-Chemistry, 1971-1980 (1993), 341. Science quotes on: | Boron (3) | Career (26) | Chemistry (127) | Alfred Stock (3) [As a young teenager] Galois read [Legendre's] geometry from cover to cover as easily as other boys read a pirate yarn. Eric Temple Bell Men of Mathematics (1937, 1986), 364. Science quotes on: | variste Galois (2) | Geometry (49) | Read (16)

[Decoding the human genome sequence] is the most significant undertaking that we have mounted so far in an organized way in all of science. I believe that reading our blueprints, cataloguing our own instruction book, will be judged by history as more significant than even splitting the atom or going to the moon. Francis S. Collins Interview (23 May 1998), 'Cracking the Code to Life', Academy of Achievement web site. Science quotes on: | Atom (152) | Blueprint (2) | Catalog (2) | Going (3) | History (129) | Human Genome (8) | Instruction (11) | Judgement (2) | Moon (70) | Mount (2) | Organization (44) | Reading (22) | Sequence (14) | Significance (23) | Splitting (2) | Undertaking (4) | Way (26) [Herschel and Humboldt] stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science. No one or a dozen other books influenced me nearly so much as these two. I copied out from Humboldt long passages about Teneriffe and read them aloud on one of [my walking excursions]. Charles Darwin Autobiographies, (eds.) Michael Neve and Sharon Messenger (2002), Penguin edn., 36. Science quotes on: | Biography (194) | Sir John Herschel (17) | Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinan von Humboldt (4) | Natural Science (25) [Student:} I only use my math book on special equations. Movie Writer From movie Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979). Writers, Richard Whitley, Russ Dvonch and Joseph McBride. In Larry Langman and Paul Gold, Comedy Quotes from the Movies (2001), 359. Science quotes on: | Equation (37) | Mathematics (297) | Quip (65) | Special (18) [When I was a child] I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and I was a street kid. ... [T]here was one aspect of that environment that, for some reason, struck me as different, and that was the stars. ... I could tell they were lights in the sky, but that wasn't an explanation. I mean, what were they? Little electric bulbs on long black wires, so you couldn't see what they were held up by? What were they? ... My mother said to me, "Look, we've just got you a library card ... get out a book and find the answer." ... It was in there. It was stunning. The answer was that the Sun was a star, except very far away. ... The dazzling idea of a universe vast beyond imagining swept over me. ... I sensed awe. Carl Sagan In 'Wonder and Skepticism', Skeptical Enquirer (Jan-Feb 1995), 19, No. 1. Science quotes on: | Answer (77) | Awe (7) | Biography (194) | Brooklyn (2) | Dazzling (5) | Electricity (65) | Environment (56) | Explanation (71) | Far (4) | Idea (169) | Imagination (104) | Kid (3) | Library (19) | Light (92) | New York (2) | Sense (86) | Sky (24) | Star (109) | Street (5) | Stunning (2) | Sun (92) | Universe (240) | Vastness (4) | Wire (8)

Etiquette for Using Quotes for Promotion?

Posted by Johanna on March 3, 2008 at 7:35 am Category: Meta

I have a question I want opinions on, but first, a story. A male friend of mine told me he was getting teased because he wanted to read Divalicious! Book 2, until he showed them that he knew the person quoted on the back cover, which they thought cool. That was me an excerpt from my review of book one was prominently included. The part that surprised me was that I was completely unaware of this. Now, Im not thinking that the publisher should have to ask permission or anything when I write, I put the material out there for public consumption, and as long as its properly credited (which includes spelling my name correctly), I have nothing to say. But I did think it would have been nice to have been notified. Even nicer would have been if theyd sent me a copy of the book. If they think my praise will help them sell the work, sending a comp copy is a nice thank you. Now, your opinions. Is that expectation out of line? Is a note the most I should look for? Or is that unnecessary, too? Similar Posts: How to Get Review Copies Graphic Classics Releases Online Catalog With Sample Comics Call for Submissions: Android Comics for Google Phones On Vacation Wondering About Ellison 31 Comments

31 Responses to Etiquette for Using Quotes for Promotion? 1. Kevin Melrose Says:
March 3, 2008 at 8:26 AM

Out of line? I dont know. Maybe a little unrealistic? Back when I was a newspaper journalist, I was occasionally quoted on book jackets and video covers. But I cant recall ever being notified. Usually, Id either stumble across the quote while in the bookstore, or a friend would call me after discovering it. 2. Pitzer Says:
March 3, 2008 at 8:52 AM

If we plan to use a quote on a printed item, either the creator or myself ask permission. Just seems the right thing to do. If its used within the industry as in sent to Diamond or posted on CBIA, I normally dont.

And yeah, I try and get comps out to the quotees, but I know of a few that havent been sent some I like to hand deliver if possible, just to have that face to face at a show. For instance, David Mack on Johnny Hiro. 3. Susan Says:
March 3, 2008 at 9:24 AM

Like Kevin, I have never been notified when quotes were used by the publisher. I wrote reviews for School Library Journal and I always seemed to just stumble across my words in a catalog or on a book jacket by accident. Its a weird experience. SLJ reviews from comp copies, so I never received or expected a second copy. 4. Jay Faerber Says:
March 3, 2008 at 9:26 AM

I use quotes all the time on the back covers of Dynamo 5, and it never occurred to me to notify the person Im quoting. I can see your point it is a nice gesture and I should probably be more thoughtful. And I can see why youd expect this you send out emails to creators when their books are featured on your website. Which is great, but to my knowledge, youre the only person who ever does this. Sending comp copies is a good idea too, and something else I never thought of. ~ Jay 5. Chris Arrant Says:
March 3, 2008 at 9:32 AM

Ive had quotes pulled from what Ive written. In most cases they ask ahead of time, but when they dont its an awkward surprise. Also, Ive found out that the latter who dont ask, usually use the venue I write for in that case instead of my actual name. Newsarama, for instance, carries more weight. 6. Dan Grendell Says:
March 3, 2008 at 9:47 AM

I have quotes pulled on a fairly regular basis, and I have yet to ever be asked or notified. Ever. Much less be given a comp copy. Even more interesting is when a publisher uses a carefully chosen quote from a mediocre or bad review to promote their work, which has happened on occasion. I just chalk it up to the way things are. Id prefer more courtesy, but 7. Nat Gertler Says:
March 3, 2008 at 10:00 AM

On a practical level, it can be a good idea to send someone who gave you a review worth quoting the later volume, because it may generate further review or comment from them. You want the people who like what you do to be talking about it.

But I dont think theres a real moral debt there, unless one does an extensive quote (although Ive never seen a legal challenge to review quotes being fair use its an interesting question, in that such quote use is commercial in nature.) The publisher does get use of your words, but the reviewer (or the publishing source) gets cited, and gets their own promotion and exposure. It seems to me that a key step to reviewer fame is to have review quotes splashed around. (Which leads to another thought: that the way to become a famous reviewer is to give strong reviews to low-quality works, where they will not be able to find good quotes from already-famous reviewers.) 8. James Says:
March 3, 2008 at 10:25 AM

Not being in publishing I have no real experience to speak of but I find it surprising that people are not notified when a pull quote is being used for promotional purposes. One thinks common courtesy and all. I think the expectation of a comp copy might be a bit much though. @Nat: I think using pull-quotes from reviewers as promotional material firmly falls under fair use. Any reviewer who tried to raise a stink about it would have trouble making the argument that while they put their words and opinions out there for public consumption they did not mean for this particular vein of public consumption. 9. Ed Sizemore Says:
March 3, 2008 at 10:50 AM

Dan, If Im remembering correctly, in New York state and some European countries its illegal to misquote a critic. Its a shame thats not a universal law. 10. Greg McElhatton Says:
March 3, 2008 at 10:52 AM

Ive very rarely been asked in advance (although there are notable exceptions, such as Viz) and I honestly dont expect it. Would it be nice? Absolutely. But I dont think its standard operating procedures in any sort of entertainment medium, really. (That said, I do think a comp copy really should be sent. Theres one publisher whose stuff I used to get review copies ofbut no moreand Im trying to think of the nicest way to ask if a recent hardcover of theirs which used an extensive quote of mine could be sent to me for my own library. Which I think is fair, but I undersand if they dont.) 11. Joy Says:
March 3, 2008 at 10:55 AM

My experience from working in book publishing marketing is that permission is not generally sought for pull quotes from published reviews. However, if the words were written/spoken in a different context, such that the quote is more of a personal blurb/promotion spiel rather than a review excerpt, permission is sought. But specific practice for the more ambiguous situations (like a published blog post that is not a formal review) probably varies by publisher, though.

12. Heidi M. Says:

March 3, 2008 at 11:30 AM

I dont think I know of anyone who has ever asked permission to use a blurb. Now has anyone ever sent a thank you. And in my opinion, thats fine just the way it is. Anything more gets into the whole conflict of interest area. Which of course is rife in comics in particular anyway, but there you go. 13. Jane Irwin Says:
March 3, 2008 at 12:36 PM

Yipes. You got comp copies from me, right? ;) 14. thekamisama Says:
March 3, 2008 at 1:07 PM

I once chanced upon a quote of mine used in a promotion and felt overwhelmingly flattered. I doubt anyone has ever asked a media critic for books, films, or television to use a quote. But I can see how at least giving you a heads up might be benefical. 15. Jennifer de Guzman Says:
March 3, 2008 at 1:48 PM

Ill send a comp copy if I solicit a blurb from someone (such as Jamie S. Richs blurb on the Paris GN). A lot of the time the reviewers whom we quote are on our review list anyway, so theyll likely get a copy. But I dont think this is something reviewers should expect, though it certainly is nice that some publishers do that. Still, like Heidi, I worry about the appearance of conflict of interest and quid pro quo. 16. Marc Mason Says:
March 3, 2008 at 2:55 PM

My general take is that I dont care if Im quoted- I know thats one of the reasons why publishers send stuff out, after all- as long as its done accurately and within the spirit of the review. In one case, I had given a rave to the first issue of a book, as it was quite excellent, but soundly panned the four successive issues as having wasted the potential and goodwill from issue one. But when the trade came out there were my words about issue one in big letters on the back cover, completely ignoring how I felt about the rest of the material in the book. And that, to me, was not good. 17. badMike Says:
March 3, 2008 at 3:09 PM

I get quoted once in a rare while. A heads-up would be nice and a comp copy probably good business (although I could probably be convinced otherwise), but I dont think either are necessary or required. I agree with Nat, I usually just look at it as a nice boost of publicity for my own little site and just pleased that somebody liked what I wrote enough to quote me. 18. dave roman Says:
March 3, 2008 at 4:29 PM

If you ask someone to specifically review a book or offer a quote to use, that would seem to warrant a complimentary copy. But if you are pulling a quote from review site or magazine, Im not sure if the debt needs to be repaid, since thats the nature of their business. Something to keep in mind too is that artists are often the ones who ask for quotes on their material, but they dont always get that many comp copies themselves from their publishers! 19. Johanna Says:
March 3, 2008 at 4:37 PM

Wow, lots of opinions, as Id hoped. I think this may be another area where comics is unique Im having trouble thinking of another medium where someone can review material without being solicited for a quote (issues) and then have their independently created words picked up for a later publication (collection). I also didnt realize that other people dont notify creators that their works have been reviewed. How else are you going to get talked about? (Thats a joke, son.) Dan G., Ive been asked to allow use of bad reviews before. Ive gingerly asked what they intended to excerpt, and its usually a factual description (this is like X meets Y) that they liked. So I shrug and say fine. Im mostly curious about what they want to say, just to prevent misquoting. Nat, thats a sneaky strategy you mention, its true. But theres a more pleasant motive to reviewing less talked-about works standing out in a crowded field by covering something missing from the general blog-verse. I am curious how a nice I liked your review, Id like to use your quote that says on my next book counts as conflict of interest in Heidis opinion, though. Marc, I like your summary of accurately and within the spirit. 20. Rivkah Says:
March 3, 2008 at 4:39 PM

I think it depends on the source. Like Viz asking me for a quote on Hot Gimmick. I distinctly remember a glowing review I wrote early on in the series, but then reaching the end and loathing it. I would hate for one of my early reviews to find its way on the

back cover of something I ended up wanting to burn. -_-; Thank goodness they had the courtesy to ask! However, I think if you run a review site or journal, that publishers expect to be able to pull those quotes without asking, especially publications like Booklist, PW, or The Library Journal, which are expected sources for quotes and reviews. 21. Rivkah Says:
March 3, 2008 at 5:31 PM

Btw, the BBC posted an interesting article thats somewhere along the same lines, about whether or not papers can print/publish whats been said online without asking for permission first: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7271348.stm 22. Johanna Says:
March 3, 2008 at 5:49 PM

Oh, I dont debate that anyone can lift anything publicly published that they want. But I do think that there is a distinction between picking stuff up for reporting and picking it up to use as part of your marketing. 23. Heidi M. Says:
March 3, 2008 at 9:04 PM

I agree that the exceptions that everyone has posted soliciting a blurb or quote call for some kind of thank you or finished copy. >>>am curious how a nice I liked your review, Id like to use your quote that says on my next book counts as conflict of interest in Heidis opinion, though. Because as a reviewer I am not supposed to give a shit about how the target of my review feels about it. And friendliness means that I may be more kindly inclined towards that person in the future. In the real world, forget about it. Not long ago I was thinking of doing reviews but the first two I started had so many questions and caveats regarding the creators I felt like I didnt want to blindside them with negative reviews that I never even got around to writing them. The best reviewer will have NO contact with any of the creators. In the real world thats practically impossible, but I believe there should be a certain line which I am personally way over. The reviews in PW are unsigned this allows both a freedom from worrying about what someone will perceive as a conflict of interest, or any blowback. And it also allows publishers to constantly quote our reviews.

24. Alan Coil Says:

March 3, 2008 at 11:01 PM

I think notification would be nice, but other than that one time in court by that police officer, nobody has ever quoted me. ;) 25. The Utility of Negative Reviews Comics Worth Reading Says:
March 4, 2008 at 8:03 AM

[...] a continuing blog conversation! David Welsh answers my question about promotional quotes and then asks another good question: Ive been wondering lately if I might write more negative [...] 26. Jay Faerber Says:
March 4, 2008 at 9:52 AM

I agree with Heidi, regarding the notion that reviewers should have no contact with the people whose work theyre reviewing. I always kinda wince when I see a good review, followed by the creator enthusiastically thanking the reviewer in the Comments section. Is that creator thanking the reviewer for taking the time to review the book (which is fine), or is s/he thanking the reviewer for the positive review (which isnt)? 27. Johanna Says:
March 4, 2008 at 3:56 PM

Reviewers having no contact? Now Im the one to say wow, Ive never heard anyone express that before, not in the TV review field either. And maybe Im biased, but some of my most treasured compliments as a reviewer came from creators and took the form thank you for noticing that element, no one else picked up on it. Heidi, so is the best reviewer an Emily Dickenson-like recluse interacting only with the work? Sorry, Im exaggerating, only because Im really surprised to see you, of all people, argue for no social contact of any kind. I dont think thats feasible, let alone good for the reviewer. But then, I prefer to take the Ill interact, but I also dont give a shit what you think of me and Ill say whatever I think I need to. Maybe Im just fooling myself. 28. caleb Says:
March 5, 2008 at 12:54 AM

For an additional two cents (youll be up to a dollar soon), no one needs to ask permission to use a blurb. They can even butcher your intent, turning A colossal acheivement in the production of terrible comics into A colossal acheivement if they want, really, as long as they put where they cut things out or whatever. Just as critics can review whatever they want and use portions of comics for review purposes, so can comic makers do the same with critics. Notification isnt the norm unless the blurb is solicited (obviously); Ive been asked before, but only once.

Expecting a comp in return is a littel weirdI mean, youve already read the work, right? So you dont need to see it again. On the other hand, if you raved about the first volume of a book, and they blurb you on the second, then, obviously, its smart marketing to get that raving credit future volumes, should they rave again. 29. Brendan Says:
March 5, 2008 at 1:36 AM

The weirdest use of one of my reviews was a publisher attributing someone elses words to me. In the course of one of my reviews, I quoted a line from the afterward of a book I was reviewing (actually, the quote may have been the title of the post, but it was definitely in quotes) which included the phrase that was also the title of the book. Since the quote says a flattering thing about the phrase that is also the title, it sounds like a positive comment on the book, but is actually just a line written by the books author. So, the publishers website has the authors words, using a phrase in a way that sounds like praising the book, with my name underneath. I did actually like the book, so it doesnt feel dishonest in that sense, but the sentiment of the phrase is so different from the way that I write that it was strange to visit the site and see these words attributed to me. 30. Lyle Says:
March 5, 2008 at 9:06 AM

caleb, that, however, wouldnt just be unfair to the reviewer, itd be a case of false advertising. 31. Shel Says:
August 5, 2008 at 1:16 PM

Being quoted is its own reward. Nothing futher is required. If however the quote is used on a book cover or to promote your product or to imply an approval or support, then it would be appropiate to contact the person for permission.