--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Mannerism, especially when it takes the…" description: "\"“Mannerism, especially when it takes the form of recurrent word or phrase, is by no means easy to represent; there is but a hair's breadth between the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/934/mary-lascelles-31507_books_mannerism-especially-when-it-takes-the-f_2142344.jpg" --- # Mannerism, especially when it takes the form of recurrent… ![“Mannerism, especially when it takes the form of recurrent word or phrase, is by no means easy to represent; there is but a hair's breadth between the point at which the reader delightfully recognizes is as a revealing habit of speech, and the point at which its iteration begin to weary him.” quote by Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/934/mary-lascelles-31507_books_mannerism-especially-when-it-takes-the-f_2142344.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/934/mary-lascelles-31507_books_mannerism-especially-when-it-takes-the-f_2142344.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/934/mary-lascelles-31507_books_mannerism-especially-when-it-takes-the-f_2142344.jpg) > ““Mannerism, especially when it takes the form of recurrent word or phrase, is by no means easy to represent; there is but a hair's breadth between the point at which the reader delightfully recognizes is as a revealing habit of speech, and the point at which its iteration begin to weary him.”” [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Repetitive stylistic quirks can be charming or tedious depending on how often they appear. **In simple terms:** Repetition can delight or bore readers. Key Takeaway Balance novelty with consistency. Themes literary style repetition reader engagement Mood analytical critical Type literary criticism educational When to use this quote - novel writing - editing - creative workshops Key Concepts habits of speech stylistic devices Questions to Reflect On - How do you gauge when a habit becomes a flaw? - What cues signal reader fatigue? A Different Perspective Overuse may alienate audience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Communication](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/communication/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Mannerism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mannerism/) [Speech](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speech/) ## Related quotes > [It's difficult to adopt mannerism of a real-life person and even add the nuances of your acting into it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paresh-rawal/it-s-difficult-to-adopt-mannerism-of-a-real-life-person-and-even-add/) [Paresh Rawal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paresh-rawal/) > [When technique is obtrusive it becomes mere mannerism, a conscious striving for effect. It is only a means to an end - the manner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-j-phillips/when-technique-is-obtrusive-it-becomes-mere-mannerism-a-conscious/) [Walter J. Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-j-phillips/) > [“Wisdom is not counted in grammers, niether in fluency, but vividly shown in mannerism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/wisdom-is-not-counted-in-grammers-niether-in-fluency-but-vividly/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [Although I adore the Italian High Renaissance, I'd rather look at Mannerism. The former is ordered, integrated, otherworldly, and grandiose; it leaves you feeling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/although-i-adore-the-italian-high-renaissance-i-d-rather-look-at/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [Mannerism always wants to be finished and doesn't enjoy the process. Genuine, truly great talent, however, finds its greatest satisfaction in the production.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/mannerism-always-wants-to-be-finished-and-doesn-t-enjoy-the-process/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Carlyle must undoubtedly plead guilty to the charge of mannerism. He not only has his vein, but his peculiar manner of working it.He has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/carlyle-must-undoubtedly-plead-guilty-to-the-charge-of-mannerism-he/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“A Mannerist designer would attack the linguistic convention not by avoiding the use of the signal, but by misusing it notoriously.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonta/a-mannerist-designer-would-attack-the-linguistic-convention-not-by/) Bonta > [You will not find me repeating a character or carrying similar mannerism in different films.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amyra-dastur/you-will-not-find-me-repeating-a-character-or-carrying-similar/) [Amyra Dastur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amyra-dastur/) > [Mannerism is always longing to have done, and has no true enjoyment in work. A genuine, really great talent, on the other hand, has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/mannerism-is-always-longing-to-have-done-and-has-no-true-enjoyment-in/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I'm not mannerist. I don't think I'm interested in mannerism. If I ever use it in a way, or if manner is like some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-schnabel/i-m-not-mannerist-i-don-t-think-i-m-interested-in-mannerism-if-i-ever/) [Julian Schnabel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-schnabel/) > [I realized that one cannot reveal oneself without mannerism, without some evident trace of one's personality. But all the same one should not go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-braque/i-realized-that-one-cannot-reveal-oneself-without-mannerism-without/) [Georges Braque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-braque/) > [“This mannerism of what he'd seen of society struck Homer Wells quite forcefully; people, even nice people—because, surely, Wally was nice—would say a host…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/this-mannerism-of-what-he-d-seen-of-society-struck-homer-wells-quite/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [ \[Mannerism is when\] you think you have all these great ideas, and none of them are good at the end of the day. But… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-gosling/mannerism-is-when-you-think-you-have-all-these-great-ideas-and-none/) [Ryan Gosling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-gosling/) > [Mannerism is not character, and affectation is the avowed enemy of grace. Every dancer ought to regard his laborious art as a link in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-bournonville/mannerism-is-not-character-and-affectation-is-the-avowed-enemy-of/) [August Bournonville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-bournonville/) > [There's when a phrase circles in my head in a number of ways for any number of days, weeks, or months, and then that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mangan/there-s-when-a-phrase-circles-in-my-head-in-a-number-of-ways-for-any/) [Dan Mangan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mangan/) ## More by Mary Lascelles > [“A story conducted by the time of a clock and calendars alone would be a story not of human beings but of mechanical toys.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/a-story-conducted-by-the-time-of-a-clock-and-calendars-alone-would-be/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“Charlotte Palmer is no sillier than Harriet Smith; and yet, how intolerable we should find it to see and hear as much of Charlotte…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/charlotte-palmer-is-no-sillier-than-harriet-smith-and-yet-how/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“In Jane Austen it was the critical faculty that would not be quieted; and that faculty in her, played on men and women.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/in-jane-austen-it-was-the-critical-faculty-that-would-not-be-quieted/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“A clever girl may pass through the phase of foolish miss on the way to sensible woman.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/a-clever-girl-may-pass-through-the-phase-of-foolish-miss-on-the-way/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“When many story-tellers occupy themselves with a social world which offers no great variety of lively action, their stories will probably resemble one another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/when-many-story-tellers-occupy-themselves-with-a-social-world-which/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“Others beside Jane Austen have made their Eltons, though none quite so cooly as she.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/others-beside-jane-austen-have-made-their-eltons-though-none-quite-so/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“Jane Austen's narrative style seems to me to show (especially in the later novels) a curiously chameleon-like faculty; it varies in colour as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/jane-austen-s-narrative-style-seems-to-me-to-show-especially-in-the/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“Jane Austen never repeats herself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/jane-austen-never-repeats-herself/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“Sympathy compounded of liking and compassion in varying proportions evidently seemed to Jane Austen the most natural inventive to imaginative interest in a character.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/sympathy-compounded-of-liking-and-compassion-in-varying-proportions/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“I suspect that Jane Austen's practice of denying herself the aid of figurative language which, as much as any of her other habits of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/i-suspect-that-jane-austen-s-practice-of-denying-herself-the-aid-of/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“The artist (I suppose) usually pays for the privilege by some sort of partial insomnia, by the possession of one faculty that will not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/the-artist-i-suppose-usually-pays-for-the-privilege-by-some-sort-of/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“The sole agents, indeed, in the action of her novels are individual human beings. And the comedy is the outcome of their making fools…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/the-sole-agents-indeed-in-the-action-of-her-novels-are-individual/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“As for Elizabeth Bennet, our chief reason for accepting her point of view as a reflection of her author's is the impression that she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/as-for-elizabeth-bennet-our-chief-reason-for-accepting-her-point-of/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“Landscapes we must owe something to the eye of the beholder. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/landscapes-we-must-owe-something-to-the-eye-of-the-beholder/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) > [“Few novelists can be more scrupulous than Jane Austen as to the phrasing of the thoughts of their characters. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-lascelles/few-novelists-can-be-more-scrupulous-than-jane-austen-as-to-the/) [Mary Lascelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) [Explore all 16 Mary Lascelles quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-lascelles/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. 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