Daniel Pennac
Daniel Pennac
Daniel Pennacis a French writer. He received the Prix Renaudot in 2007 for his essay Chagrin d'école...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
CountryFrance
reading loving-life lifetime
Time spent reading, like time spent loving, increases our lifetime.
art suggestions architecture
L’architecture est art de suggestion.
lying reading world
The paradoxical virtue of reading lies in distancing ourselves from the world so that we may make sense of it.
dream falling-in-love fall
You can't make someone read. Just like you can't make them fall in love, or dream ...
book wells chosen
A well-chosen book saves you from everything, including yourself.
reading doors different
But reading is different, reading is something you do. With TV, and cinema for that matter, everything's handed to you on a plate, nothing has to be worked at, they just spoon-feed you. The picture, the sound, the scenery, the atmospheric music in case you haven't understood what the director's on about... The creaking door that tells you to be stiff. You have to imagine it all when you're reading.
making-time our-time
By making time to read, like making time to love, we expand our time for living.
rights pages bills
Reader's Bill of Rights 1. The right to not read 2. The right to skip pages 3. The right to not finish 4. The right to reread 5. The right to read anything 6. The right to escapism 7. The right to read anywhere 8. The right to browse 9. The right to read out loud 10. The right to not defend your tastes
book reading writing
We human beings build houses because we're alive but we write books because we're mortal. We live in groups because we're sociable but we read because we know we're alone. Reading offers a kind of companionship that takes no one's place but that no one can replace either. It offers no definitive explanation of our destiny but links us inextricably to life. Its tiny secret links remind us of how paradoxically happy we are to be alive while illuminating how tragically absurd life is.
important pockets enough
When you buy a jacket, it’s important the pockets are big enough for a paperback!
fun doubt masters
I master my doubts now. I have fun with them, they're my travelling companions.
teacher forget just-one
All it takes is one teacher - just one - to save us from ourselves and make us forget all the others.
finishing novel
I've never had time to read. But no one ever kept me from finishing a novel I loved.
teacher school thinking
The teacher is commodified, the school is a shop, the subjects are consumer goods. To read, to think, to reflect, isn't a question of want, it's a question of need.