--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Propriety of thought and propriety of…" description: "\"Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity and affectation are the two greatest faults of style. Obscurity of..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/thomas-b-macaulay-1980_confusion_propriety-of-thought-and-propriety-of-di_1667080.png" --- # Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly… ![“Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity and affectation are the two greatest faults of style. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas; and the same wish to dazzle, at any cost, which produces affectation in the manner of a…” quote by Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/thomas-b-macaulay-1980_confusion_propriety-of-thought-and-propriety-of-di_1667080.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/thomas-b-macaulay-1980_confusion_propriety-of-thought-and-propriety-of-di_1667080.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47c/thomas-b-macaulay-1980_confusion_propriety-of-thought-and-propriety-of-di_1667080.png) > “Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity and affectation are the two greatest faults of style. Obscurity of expression generally springs from confusion of ideas; and the same wish to dazzle, at any cost, which produces affectation in the manner of a writer, is likely to produce sophistry in his reasonings.” [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Clear, precise language reflects clear thinking; obscurity and pretentiousness reveal confused ideas and shallow reasoning. **In simple terms:** Clear language shows clear thought. Key Takeaway Prioritize clarity over flashiness. Themes clarity precision style thought Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical advisory When to use this quote - academic writing - public speaking - teaching - editing - debate Key Concepts rhetoric critical thinking literary criticism Questions to Reflect On - How does your writing reveal your thinking? - When have you chosen simplicity over flair? A Different Perspective Obscure or affectated prose can still be persuasive to some audiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Confusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confusion/) [Cost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cost/) [Dazzle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dazzle/) [Diction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/diction/) [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [Faults](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faults/) [Found](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/found/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Obscurity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obscurity/) [Obscurity Affectation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obscurity-affectation-820088/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Propriety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propriety/) [Propriety Diction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propriety-diction-820087/) [Propriety Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propriety-thought-820089/) [Reasoning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reasoning/) [Sophistry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sophistry/) [Spring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spring/) [Style](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/style/) [Thought Propriety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-propriety-820090/) [Together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/together/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) ## Related quotes > [Men of great conversational powers almost universally practise a sort of lively sophistry and exaggeration which deceives for the moment both themselves and their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/men-of-great-conversational-powers-almost-universally-practise-a-sort/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [Truth is strong enough to overcome all human sophistries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschines/truth-is-strong-enough-to-overcome-all-human-sophistries/) [Aeschines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschines/) > [We cannot by a little verbal sophistry confound the qualities of different minds, nor force opposite excellences into a union by all the intolerance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/we-cannot-by-a-little-verbal-sophistry-confound-the-qualities-of/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [Why should not every individual man have existed more than once upon this world? Why should I not come back as often as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gotthold-ephraim-lessing/why-should-not-every-individual-man-have-existed-more-than-once-upon/) [Gotthold Ephraim Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gotthold-ephraim-lessing/) > [The juggle of sophistry consists, for the most part, in using a word in one sense in all the premises, and in another sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/the-juggle-of-sophistry-consists-for-the-most-part-in-using-a-word-in/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Some people don't mind a little constitutional sophistry in a good cause; and for liberals, centralizing all power in the federal government is always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-sobran/some-people-don-t-mind-a-little-constitutional-sophistry-in-a-good/) [Joseph Sobran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-sobran/) > [Fire is to represent truth because it destroys all sophistry and lies; and the mask is for lying and falsehood which conceal truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/fire-is-to-represent-truth-because-it-destroys-all-sophistry-and-lies/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [Fire destroys all sophistry, that is deceit; and maintains truth alone, that is gold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/fire-destroys-all-sophistry-that-is-deceit-and-maintains-truth-alone/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [We find sects and parties in most branches of science; and disputes which are carried on from age to age, without being brought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/we-find-sects-and-parties-in-most-branches-of-science-and-disputes/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [“The dangers of sophistry and scholasticism are present in the possibility of philosophy itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/the-dangers-of-sophistry-and-scholasticism-are-present-in-the/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/education-without-social-action-is-a-one-sided-value-because-it-has/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [If a close examination of the evidences of Christianity may be expected of one class of men more than another, it would seem incumbent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-greenleaf/if-a-close-examination-of-the-evidences-of-christianity-may-be/) [Simon Greenleaf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-greenleaf/) > [Oh, children, growing up to be Adventurers into sophistry, Forbear, forbear to be of those That read the rood to learn the rose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edna-st-vincent-millay/oh-children-growing-up-to-be-adventurers-into-sophistry-forbear/) [Edna St. Vincent Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edna-st-vincent-millay/) > [“The Devil answer'd: bray a fool in a morter with wheat, yet shall not his folly be beaten out of him; if Jesus Christ…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/the-devil-answer-d-bray-a-fool-in-a-morter-with-wheat-yet-shall-not/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [There must be sophistry in all this; but the condition of a slave confuses all principles of morality, and, in fact, renders the practice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-ann-jacobs/there-must-be-sophistry-in-all-this-but-the-condition-of-a-slave/) [Harriet Ann Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-ann-jacobs/) ## More by Thomas B. Macaulay > [A beggarly people, A church and no steeple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/a-beggarly-people-a-church-and-no-steeple/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [We must judge a government by its general tendencies and not by its happy accidents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/we-must-judge-a-government-by-its-general-tendencies-and-not-by-its/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [None of the modes by which a magistrate is appointed, popular election, the accident of the lot, or the accident of birth, affords, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/none-of-the-modes-by-which-a-magistrate-is-appointed-popular-election/) [Thomas B. 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His variety is like the variety of nature,--endless diversity, scarcely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/highest-among-those-who-have-exhibited-human-nature-by-means-of/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [The most beautiful object in the world, it will be allowed, is a beautiful woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/the-most-beautiful-object-in-the-world-it-will-be-allowed-is-a/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [The passages in which Milton has alluded to his own circumstances are perhaps read more frequently, and with more interest, than any other lines…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/the-passages-in-which-milton-has-alluded-to-his-own-circumstances-are/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [Oh, wherefore come ye forth in triumph from the north, With your hands, and your feet, and your raiment all red? And wherefore doth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/oh-wherefore-come-ye-forth-in-triumph-from-the-north-with-your-hands/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected in the Sanskrit language is less valuable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/it-is-i-believe-no-exaggeration-to-say-that-all-the-historical/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [Ambrose Phillips . . . who had the honor of bringing into fashion a species of composition which has been called, after his name, Namby Pamby.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/ambrose-phillips-who-had-the-honor-of-bringing-into-fashion-a-species/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [In the infancy of civilization, when our island was as savage as New Guinea, when letters and arts were still unknown to Athens, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/in-the-infancy-of-civilization-when-our-island-was-as-savage-as-new/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [In truth it may be laid down as an almost universal rule that good poets are bad critics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/in-truth-it-may-be-laid-down-as-an-almost-universal-rule-that-good/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [He had a head which statuaries loved to copy, and a foot the deformity of which the beggars in the streets mimicked.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/he-had-a-head-which-statuaries-loved-to-copy-and-a-foot-the-deformity/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) > [The Spartan, smiting and spurning the wretched Helot, moves our disgust. But the same Spartan, calmly dressing his hair, and uttering his concise jests,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-b-macaulay/the-spartan-smiting-and-spurning-the-wretched-helot-moves-our-disgust/) [Thomas B. Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) [Explore all 193 Thomas B. Macaulay quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-b-macaulay/) ## More Confusion quotes > [The fog of illusion, the fog of confusion is hanging all over the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-morrison/the-fog-of-illusion-the-fog-of-confusion-is-hanging-all-over-the-world/) [Van Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-morrison/) > [I believe confusion is good. Worldwide market leaders gain when there is confusion in the market.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/subhash-chandra/i-believe-confusion-is-good-worldwide-market-leaders-gain-when-there/) [Subhash Chandra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/subhash-chandra/) > [Being actors we are dealing with the beauty and complexity of human confusion, no? 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But rarely, very rarely novel.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-de-la-mare/in-these-days-of-faith-cures-and-hypnotism-and-telepathy-and/) [Walter de la Mare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-de-la-mare/) > [“If you want nothing to do with god then why do you say his name all the time”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-reimer/if-you-want-nothing-to-do-with-god-then-why-do-you-say-his-name-all/) [Emily Reimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-reimer/) [Browse all 1,822 Confusion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confusion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Propriety of thought and propriety of diction are commonly found together. Obscurity and affectation are the two greatest faults of style. 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