---
title: "A book, once it is printed and published, becomes individual. It is b… — James Branch Cabell Quote #4 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "A book, once it is printed and published, becomes individual. It is by its publication as decisively severed from its author as in parturition a chil… — a quote by James Branch Cabell."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # A book, once it is printed and published, becomes individual. It is by its publication as decisively severed from its author as in parturition a child is cut off from its parent. The book 'means' thereafter, perforce, - both grammatically and actually, - whatever meaning this or that reader gets out of it.

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## More from James Branch Cabell

1. > I have read that the secret of gallantry is to accept the pleasures of life leisurely, and its inconveniences with a shrug; as well as that, among other requis…

[Permalink to quote \#3](https://quotesby.net/James-Branch-Cabell/3/ "Permalink to quote 3")
2. > Tell the rabble my name is Cabell.

[Permalink to quote \#5](https://quotesby.net/James-Branch-Cabell/5/ "Permalink to quote 5")
3. > The comedy is always the same. In the first act the hero imagines a place where happiness exists. In the second he strives towards that goal. In the third he c…

[Permalink to quote \#2](https://quotesby.net/James-Branch-Cabell/2/ "Permalink to quote 2")

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