Taste may change, but inclination never.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Every good writer has much idiom; it is the life and spirit of language.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
In the final analysis, “style” is art. And art is nothing more or less than various modes of stylized, dehumanized representation.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Words in prose ought to express the intended meaning; if they attract attention to themselves, it is a fault; in the very best styles you read page after page without noticing the medium.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Generally speaking, an author’s style is a faithful copy of his mind. If you would write a lucid style, let there first be light in your own mind; and if you would write a grand style, you ought to have a grand character.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
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
All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
An era is fast approaching, when no writer will be read by the majority, except those that can effect that for bales of manuscript that the hydrostatic screw performs for bales of cotton, by condensing that matter into a period that before occupied a page.
—Johann Friedrich Cotta (1764–1832) German Publisher, Statesman
I hate a style that is wholly flat and regular, that slides along like an eel, and never rises to what one can call an inequality.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
I cannot cure myself of that most woeful of youth’s follies—thinking that those who care about us will care for the things that mean much to us.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
The unaffected of every country nearly resemble each other, and a page of Confucius and Tillotson have scarce any material difference, paltry affectation, strained allusions, and disgusting finery are easily attained by those who choose to wear them; they are but too frequently the badges of ignorance or of stupidity whenever it would endeavor to please.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
A sentence well couched takes both the sense and the understanding.—I love not those cart-rope speeches that are longer than the memory of man can measure.
—Owen Feltham (1602–68) English Essayist
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
When we meet with a natural style we are surprised and delighted, for we expected to find an author, and have found a man.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Oh, never mind the fashion. When one has a style of one’s own, it is always twenty times better.
—Margaret Oliphant (1828–97) Scottish Author
Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire of appearing so.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
For a long time I found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry ridiculous. I loved absurd pictures, fanlights, stage scenery, mountebanks backcloths, inn-signs, cheap colored prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, pornographic books badly spelt, grandmothers novels, fairy stories, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, simple rhythms.
—Arthur Rimbaud (1854–91) French Poet, Adventurer
If I am ever obscure in my expressions, do not fancy that therefore I am deep. If I were really deep, all the world would understand, though they might not appreciate. The perfectly popular style is the perfectly scientific one. To me an obscurity is a reason for suspecting a fallacy.
—Charles Kingsley (1819–75) English Clergyman, Academic, Historian, Novelist
Errors of taste are very often the outward sign of a deep fault of sensibility.
—Jonathan Miller (1934–2019) English Theatre Director, Author
Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped on the material in hand.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
Style is the image of character.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Taste has no system and no proofs.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Style may defined as the proper words in the proper places.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
I wish you all manner of prosperity, with a little more taste.
—Alain-Rene Lesage (1668–1747) French Novelist, Dramatist
Style is what gives value and currency to thoughts.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
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
The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity.
—Quintilian (c.35–c.100 CE) Roman Rhetorician, Literary 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
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