Style is the image of character.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Good taste is either that which agrees with my taste or that which subjects itself to the rule of reason. From this we can see how useful it is to employ reason in seeking out the laws of taste.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
To me style is just the outside of content, and content the inside of style, like the outside and the inside of the human body—both go together, they can’t be separated.
—Jean-luc Godard (1930–2022) French-born Swiss Film Director, Film Critic
Taste has no system and no proofs.
—Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American Writer, Philosopher
Perspicuity is the framework of profound thoughts.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Style is knowing who you are, what to say, and not giving a damn.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
My tastes are aristocratic, my actions democratic.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Taste is the fundamental quality which sums up all the other qualities. It is the nec plus ultra of the intelligence. Through this alone is genius the supreme health and balance of all the faculties.
—Comte de Lautreamont (1846–1870) French Symbolist Poet
Style is not something applied. It is something that permeates. It is of the nature of that in which it is found, whether the poem, the manner of a god, the bearing of a man. It is not a dress.
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American Poet
To give style to one’s character—a great and rare art! He exercises it who surveys all that his nature presents in strength and weakness and then moulds it to an artistic plan until everything appears as art and reason, and even the weaknesses delight the eye.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Talent, taste, wit, good sense are very different things but by no means incompatible. Between good sense and good taste there exists the same difference as between cause and effect, and between wit and talent there is the same proportion as between a whole and its parts.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
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
The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the most valuable investment a writer can make with his time. It pays off slowly, your agent will sneer at it, your publisher will misunderstand it, and it will take people you have never heard of to convince them by slow degrees that the writer who puts his individual mark on the way he writes will always pay off.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
Fashions fade, but style is eternal.
—Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008) French Fashion Designer
Style is what gives value and currency to thoughts.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Good taste is the worst vice ever invented.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) English Poet, Critic
‘Tis beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It’s just IT. Some women will stay in a man’s memory if they once walked down a street.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Writer, Poet, Novelist, Short Story Author
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
All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, 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
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 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
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
Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as much disadvantage, and be as ill received, as your person, though ever so well-proportioned, would if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
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
One of the surest evidences of an elevated taste is the power of enjoying works of impassioned terrorism, in poetry, and painting. The man who can look at impassioned subjects of terror with a feeling of exultation may be certain he has an elevated taste.
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846) English Painter, Writer
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
The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity.
—Quintilian (c.35–c.100 CE) Roman Rhetorician, Literary Critic
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