Everyone carries his own inch rule of taste, and amuse himself by applying it, triumphantly, wherever he travels.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
There is a certain majesty in plainness; as the proclamation of a prince never frisks it in tropes or fine conceits, in numerous and well-turned periods, but commands in sober natural expressions.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
A style does not go out of style as long as it adapts itself to its period. When there is an incompatibility between the style and a certain state of mind, it is never the style that triumphs.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
The style shows the man. Whether in speaking or writing, a gentleman is always known by his style.
—Latin Proverb
A man of great common sense and good taste—meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Lovers of painting and lovers of music are people who openly display their preference like a delectable ailment that isolates them and makes them proud.
—Maurice Blanchot (1907–2003) French Novelist, Critic
The hard truth is that what may be acceptable in elite culture may not be acceptable in mass culture, that tastes which pose only innocent ethical issues as the property of a minority become corrupting when they become more established. Taste is context, and the context has changed.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
No taste is so acquired as that for someone else’s quality of mind.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
To possess taste, one must have some soul.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Nothing is so difficult as the apparent ease of a clear and flowing style.—Those graces which, from their presumed facility, encourage all to attempt to imitate them, are usually the most inimitable.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Absolute catholicity of taste is not without its dangers. It is only an auctioneer who should admire all schools of art.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire of appearing so.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Style is the gossamer on which the seeds of truth float through the world.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
Good taste is the excuse I have given for leading such a bad life.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
It is good taste, and good taste alone, that possesses the power to sterilize and is always the first handicap to any creative functioning.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
Perhaps that is nearly the perfection of good writing which effects that for knowledge which the lens effects for the sunbeam when it condenses its brightness in order to increase its force.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Style is the image of character.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
While one should always study the method of a great artist, one should never imitate his manner. The manner of an artist is essentially individual, the method of an artist is absolutely universal. The first is personality, which no one should copy; the second is perfection, which all should aim at.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
I do not much dislike the matter, but the manner of his speech.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Errors of taste are very often the outward sign of a deep fault of sensibility.
—Jonathan Miller (1934–2019) English Theatre Director, Author
Bad taste is a species of bad morals.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Any style formed in imitation of some model must be affected and straight-laced.
—Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–86) American Literary Critic
To write in a genuine familiar or truly English style is to write as any one would speak in common conversation, who had a thorough command and choice of words, or who could discourse with ease, force, and perspicuity, setting aside all pedantic and oratorical flourishes.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Long sentences in a short composition are like large rooms in a little house.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
The discovery of the good taste of bad taste can be very liberating. The man who insists on high and serious pleasures is depriving himself of pleasure; he continually restricts what he can enjoy; in the constant exercise of his good taste he will eventually price himself out of the market, so to speak. Here Camp taste supervenes upon good taste as a daring and witty hedonism. It makes the man of good taste cheerful, where before he ran the risk of being chronically frustrated. It is good for the digestion.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Clothes and manners do not make the man; but, when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Good taste is the first refuge of the non creative. It is the last ditch stand of the artist.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the motion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber; for nothing on earth is solitary, but everything hath affinities infinite.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped on the material in hand.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
Style is what gives value and currency to thoughts.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
A pure style in writing results from the rejection of everything superfluous.
—Suzanne Curchod (1739–94) French-Swiss Salonist, Writer
The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity.
—Quintilian (c.35–c.100 CE) Roman Rhetorician, Literary Critic
Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
What is food to one man is bitter poison to others.
—Lucretius (c.99–55 BCE) Roman Epicurean Poet, Philosopher
Style is knowing who you are, what to say, and not giving a damn.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
Redundancy of language is never found with deep reflection. Verbiage may indicate observation, but not thinking. He who thinks much, says but little in proportion to his thoughts. He selects that language which will convey his ideas in the most explicit and direct manner. He tries to compress as much thought as possible into a few words. On the contrary, the man who talks everlastingly and promiscuously, who seems to have an exhaustless magazine of sound, crowds so many words into his thoughts that he always obscures, and very frequently conceals them.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
Classical and romantic: private language of a family quarrel, a dead dispute over the distribution of emphasis between man and nature.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
I love everything that’s old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines; and, I believe, Dorothy, you’ll own I have been pretty fond of an old wife.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Obscurity in writing is commonly a proof of darkness in the mind; the greatest learning is to be seen in the greatest plainness.
—John Wilkins (1614–72) English Anglican Clergyman, Author, Administrator
The old prose writers wrote as if they were speaking to an audience; among us, prose is invariably written for the eye alone.
—Barthold G. Niebuhr (1776–1831) Danish-German Statesman, Banker, Historian
Style may defined as the proper words in the proper places.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Taste has no system and no proofs.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Good taste is the worst vice ever invented.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
With many readers, brilliancy of style passes for affluence of thought; they mistake buttercups in the grass for immeasurable gold mines under ground.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Every good writer has much idiom; it is the life and spirit of language.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Without taste genius is only a sublime kind of folly. That sure touch which the lyre gives back the right note and nothing more, is even a rarer gift than the creative faculty itself.
—Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French Writer, Academician, Statesman
Those who make antitheses by forcing the sense are like men who make false windows for the sake of symmetry. Their rule is not to speak justly, but to make accurate figures.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
He who would reproach an author for obscurity should look into his own mind to see whether it is quite clear there. In the dusk the plainest writing is illegible.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Style is always in fashion.
—Wilma Askinas