classic

oxymoron

is a book one can praise without having read.

A great classic means a man whom one can praise without having read.

is a book that survives the circumstances that made it possible yet alone keeps those circumstances alive.

A classic is a book that survives the circumstances that made it possible yet alone keeps those circumstances alive. (Alfred Kazin)

is a book which generations of men, driven by various reasons, read with that same initial fervor and that same mysterious loyalty.

A classic book is a book which generations of men, driven by various reasons, read with that same initial fervor and that same mysterious loyalty. Jorge Luis Borges

is a book which, upon re-reading, you do not see more in it than you did before... you see more in you than was there before.

When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before... you see more in you than was there before. - Clifton Fadiman

is a book which, with each rereading, offers as much of a sense of discovery as the first reading.

A classic is a book which with each rereading offers as much of a sense of discovery as the first reading. Italo Calvino

is a locus of social acceptance which itself becomes a vision of form that irradiates it.

Masterpiece and classic don't mean inherent formal qualities but a locus of social acceptance. Perhaps they emerge when acceptance becomes recognition, a vision of form irradiating it.

is a successful book that has survived the reaction of the next period or generation, after which it becomes safe, like a style in architecture or furniture. It acquires a picturesque dignity to take the place of its fashion.

A classic,' suggested Anthony, 'is a successful book that has survived the reaction of the next period or generation. Then it's safe, like a style in architecture or furniture. It's acquired a picturesque dignity to take the place of its fashion. F. Scott Fitzgerald

is a work of literature that refuses to go away, that remains confronting us until we do something about it, which means also doing something about ourselves.

The word 'classic' as applied to a work of literature means primarily a work that refuses to go away, that remains confronting us until we do something about it, which means also doing something about ourselves.

classic, n.All

classic