--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... the structure of a page of good prose…" description: "\"“... the structure of a page of good prose is, analyzed logically, not something frozen but the vibrating of a bridge, which changes with every step on..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/robert-musil-2009_bridges_the-structure-of-a-page-of-good-prose-is_903016.jpg" --- # ... the structure of a page of good prose is, analyzed… ![“... the structure of a page of good prose is, analyzed logically, not something frozen but the vibrating of a bridge, which changes with every step one takes on it” quote by Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/robert-musil-2009_bridges_the-structure-of-a-page-of-good-prose-is_903016.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/robert-musil-2009_bridges_the-structure-of-a-page-of-good-prose-is_903016.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a7/robert-musil-2009_bridges_the-structure-of-a-page-of-good-prose-is_903016.jpg) > ““... the structure of a page of good prose is, analyzed logically, not something frozen but the vibrating of a bridge, which changes with every step one takes on it”” [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Good prose is dynamic, like a bridge that vibrates with each reader’s step, not a rigid structure. **In simple terms:** Prose changes with each reading. Key Takeaway Write fluid, adaptable text. Themes writing literature fluidity Mood analytical creative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - novel writing - editing - literary analysis Key Concepts structure reader interaction Questions to Reflect On - How does your writing adapt to readers? - Can structure enhance or limit meaning? A Different Perspective Rigid analysis can miss emotional nuance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Analyzed Logically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/analyzed-logically-1258900/) [Bridges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bridges/) [Every step](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-step/) [Frozen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frozen/) [Good Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-prose-374199/) [Pages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pages/) [Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prose/) [Prose Analyzed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prose-analyzed-1258899/) [Steps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/steps/) [Structure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure/) [Structure Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure-page-1258901/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-aim-of-good-prose-words-is-to-mean-what-they-say-the-aim-of-good/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/good-prose-should-be-transparent-like-a-window-pane/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Good prose almost always requires both showing and telling, scenes and summary, the two basic components of creative prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-alberts/good-prose-almost-always-requires-both-showing-and-telling-scenes-and/) [Laurie Alberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-alberts/) > [It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/it-is-also-true-that-one-can-write-nothing-readable-unless-one/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the noise of battle. It has the power to give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cheever/for-me-a-page-of-good-prose-is-where-one-hears-the-rain-and-the-noise/) [John Cheever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cheever/) > [Writers acquire their technique by spotting, savoring, and reverse-engineering examples of good prose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/writers-acquire-their-technique-by-spotting-savoring-and-reverse/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Good prose is the selection of the best words; poetry is the best words in the best order; and journalese is any old words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-brewer/good-prose-is-the-selection-of-the-best-words-poetry-is-the-best/) [Alan Brewer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-brewer/) > [A page of good prose remains invincible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cheever/a-page-of-good-prose-remains-invincible/) [John Cheever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cheever/) > [It has been said that good prose should resemble the conversation of a well-bred man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/it-has-been-said-that-good-prose-should-resemble-the-conversation-of/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“Good prose is like a windowpane.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/good-prose-is-like-a-windowpane/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Warfare is the father of all good things, it is also the father of good prose!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/warfare-is-the-father-of-all-good-things-it-is-also-the-father-of/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Good prose is solitary work.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-bram/good-prose-is-solitary-work/) [Christopher Bram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-bram/) > [“Horace Greeley cautioned one upstate hopeful: “You do not realize how little the mere talent of writing well has to do with success or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-wallace/horace-greeley-cautioned-one-upstate-hopeful-you-do-not-realize-how/) [Mike Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-wallace/) > [Good prose is written only face to face with poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/good-prose-is-written-only-face-to-face-with-poetry/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [For me a page of good prose is where one hears the rain. A page of good prose is when one hears the noise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cheever/for-me-a-page-of-good-prose-is-where-one-hears-the-rain-a-page-of/) [John Cheever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cheever/) ## More by Robert Musil > [“Everything we feel and do is somehow oriented "lifeward," and the least deviation away from this direction toward something beyond is difficult or alarming.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/everything-we-feel-and-do-is-somehow-oriented-lifeward-and-the-least/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“He was in that familiar state - not that the occasion mattered to seriously to him -- of incoherent ideas spreading outward without a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/he-was-in-that-familiar-state-not-that-the-occasion-mattered-to/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [It is life that does the thinking all around us, forming with playful ease the connections our reason can only laboriously patch together piecemeal,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/it-is-life-that-does-the-thinking-all-around-us-forming-with-playful/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“What is it you do, then? I'll tell you: You leave out whatever doesn't suit you. As the author himself has done before you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/what-is-it-you-do-then-i-ll-tell-you-you-leave-out-whatever-doesn-t/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [and while faith based on theological reasoning is today universally engaged in a bitter struggle with doubt and resistance from the prevailing brand of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/and-while-faith-based-on-theological-reasoning-is-today-universally/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [What is the use of good painting? We want a spell cast upon the optical part of our existence! 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Consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/his-appearance-gives-no-clue-to-what-his-profession-might-be-and-yet/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [Philosophers are people who do violence, but have no army at their disposal, and so subjugate the world by locking it into a system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/philosophers-are-people-who-do-violence-but-have-no-army-at-their/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“The drive of his own nature to keep developing prevents him from believing that anything is final and complete, yet everything he encounters behaves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/the-drive-of-his-own-nature-to-keep-developing-prevents-him-from/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) > [“And so the mind or spirit is the great opportunist, itself impossible to pin down, take hold of, anywhere; one is tempted to believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-musil/and-so-the-mind-or-spirit-is-the-great-opportunist-itself-impossible/) [Robert Musil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) [Explore all 139 Robert Musil quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-musil/) ## More Bridges quotes > [Poetry has, in a way, been my bridge to my acting career.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/omari-hardwick/poetry-has-in-a-way-been-my-bridge-to-my-acting-career/) [Omari Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/omari-hardwick/) > [Nothing teaches great writing like the very best books do. 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You can then obtain the silence of a streetlight or a bridge; stop thinking; after that, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/when-you-walk-try-to-think-nothing-you-can-then-obtain-the-silence-of/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [Al Pacino and Jeff Bridges do it for me in a big way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-scanlon/al-pacino-and-jeff-bridges-do-it-for-me-in-a-big-way/) [Angela Scanlon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-scanlon/) > [Instead of building castles against your enemies, build bridges for them to come to you!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/instead-of-building-castles-against-your-enemies-build-bridges-for/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Instead of finding himself in nerd heaven—where every nerd gets fifty-eight virgins to role-play with—he woke up in Robert Wood Johnson with two broken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/instead-of-finding-himself-in-nerd-heaven-where-every-nerd-gets-fifty/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [Each person is an island unto himself, in a very real sense; and he can only build bridges to other islands if he is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rogers/each-person-is-an-island-unto-himself-in-a-very-real-sense-and-he-can/) [Carl Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rogers/) > [The real test of a bridge player isn’t in keeping out of trouble, but in escaping once he’s in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-sheinwold/the-real-test-of-a-bridge-player-isn-t-in-keeping-out-of-trouble-but/) [Alfred Sheinwold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-sheinwold/) > [The law ... allows rich as well as poor to sleep under bridges.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-france/the-law-allows-rich-as-well-as-poor-to-sleep-under-bridges/) [Anatole France](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-france/) > [Guys like Todd Bridges never overcame being a child star. You can't have any big failures. I've always felt regular. 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