“It is bitter bad for the English novel because—as is the case with all human enterprises—the art of the novel is so difficult a thing that unless a man’s whole energies are given to it he had much better otherwise occupy himself.”

Ford insists that serious writing demands sustained commitment to craft · The English Novel

• Skill
• Work
• Writing

“For myself, I am no moralist: I consider that if you do what you want you must take what you get for it and that if you deny yourself things you will be better off than if you don’t.”

A compact statement of personal responsibility and self-restraint · The English Novel

• Character
• Morality
• Wisdom

“Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.”

Ford’s celebrated test for judging a book from a representative page · Critical maxim, commonly attributed

• Books
• Criticism
• Reading