Commonplace Quotes

249 quotes by 221 authors

Prune what is turgid, elevate what is commonplace, arrange what is disorderly, introduce rhythm where the language is harsh, modify where it is too absolute. — Quintilian
In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is very high; in reality, very low. — Aldous Huxley
I blame myself for not often enough seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. Somewhere in his journals, Dostoyevky remarks that a writer can begin anywhere,… — Saul Bellow
Surprise quality can be achieved in many ways. It may be produced by a certain stimulating geometrical relationship between elements in the picture or through… — Alexey Brodovitch
Language is the soul of intellect, and reading is the essential process by which that intellect is cultivated beyond the commonplace experiences of everyday life. — Charles Scribner IV
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; ... — Charles Mingus
Good habits are developed in the workshops of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is… — Delbert L. Stapley
The habit of expression leads to the search for something to express. Something remains as a residuum of the commonplace itself, if one strikes out… — Henry Adams
I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming. If you… — Arthur C. Clarke
No author, without a trial, can conceive of the difficulty of writing a romance about a country where there is no shadow, no antiquity, no… — Nathaniel Hawthorne
I can think of numberless males, from Bonnard to Callahan, who have photographed their lovers and spouses, but I am having trouble finding parallel examples… — Sally Mann
The inspired scribbler always has the gift for gossip in our common usage he or she can always inspire the commonplace with an uncommon flavor,… — Elizabeth Drew
It takes the passage of time before an image of a commonplace subject can be assessed. The great difficulty of what I attempt is seeing… — George A Tice
The insular arrogance of the English character is a commonplace joke. — Goldwin Smith
The air is an extremely dangerous, jealous and exacting mistress. Once under the spell most lovers are faithful to the end, which is not always… — Winston Churchill
Eschew the ordinary, disdain the commonplace. If you have a single-minded need for something, let it be the unusual, the esoteric, the bizarre, the unexpected. — Chuck Jones
To me, nostalgia is nothing more than a mindless plundering of the past for the commonplace. — Mel Torme
It is an accepted commonplace in psychology that the spiritual level of people acting as a crowd is far lower than the mean of each… — Christian Lous Lange
Here then is the pattern in my carpet, the sense of the eternal mysteries, the eternal beauty hidden beneath the crust of common and commonplace… — Arthur Machen
Let me beg you, not to rest contented with the commonplace religion that is now so prevalent. — Adoniram Judson

Who Wrote These Commonplace Quotes

221 authors contributed a total of 249 Commonplace Quotes, led by these top contributors: