"Quotation... A writer expresses himself in words that……" — Henry Watson Fowler
"Quotation... A writer expresses himself in words that have been used before because they give his meaning better than he can give it himself, or because they are beautiful or witty, or because he expects them to touch a cord of association in his reader, or because he wishes to show that he is learned and well read. Quotations due to the last motive are invariably ill-advised; the discerning reader detects it and is contemptuous; the undiscerning is perhaps impressed, but even then is at the same time repelled, pretentious quotations being the surest road to tedium."
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Henry Watson Fowler
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10 Quotes by Henry Watson Fowler
Henry Watson Fowler has 10 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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Any one who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the…
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The purpose of paragraphing is to give the reader a rest. The writer is saying . . . : Have…
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Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched. Prefer the concrete word to the abstract. Prefer the single word to the…
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Be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.
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The writer's Queen Victoria is his public, and he would do well to keep a bust of the old Queen…
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Those who are addicted to the phrase "to use a vulgarism" expect to achieve the feat of being at once…
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It need hardly be said that shortness is a merit in words.
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Those who run to long words are mainly the unskillful and tasteless; they confuse pomposity with dignity, flaccidity with ease,…
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We tell our thoughts, like our children, to put on their hats and coats before they go out.
See all 10 quotes by Henry Watson Fowler »
More Advised Quotes
This quote is filed under Advised Quotes,
one of 160 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things,…
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When I was 40, my doctor advised me that a man in his 40s shouldn't play tennis. I heeded his…
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An actress once advised me, 'Make sure you do your own laundry - it will keep you honest.'
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Congressional mistakes have dramatically increased immigration through a series of what I believe were ill-advised actions going back to 1965…
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O Woe to his blinded soul! Saying this, he as it were said to God: "Thou Thyself are guilty, because…
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I have been advised by the best medical authority, at my age, not to attempt to give up alcohol.
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At the end of the day...if your army won't fight, it's because they don't trust their incompetent, corrupt generals, they…
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The recurrence of periods of depression and mass unemployment has discredited capitalism in the opinion of injudicious people. Yet these…
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[My father] advised me to sit every few months in my reading chair for an entire evening, close my eyes…
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I've been advised not to have any more children for medical reasons, so that's it - the shop has closed,…
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[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man,…
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In my 45-year career as an investment counselor, humility did show me the need for worldwide diversification to reduce risk.…
— John Templeton
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