"But he who meditates a work of art, Oft as he writes will act the censor’s part: Is there a word wants nobleness and grace, Devoid of weight, nor worthy of high place? He bids it go though stiffly it decline, And cling and cling like suppliant to a shrine."

"Beware of attempting anything (in literary composition) for which nature has not gifted you—i.e., against the grain."

"Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, Lectorem delectando pariterque monendo."

"Dura Exerce imperia, et ramos compesce fluentes."

"Non satis est pulcra esse poemata; dulcia sunto, Et quocumque volent animum auditoris agunto."

"Ce que l'on concoit bien s’énonce clairement Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisément."

"Exert a rigorous sway, And lop the too luxuriant boughs away."

"Hâtez-vous lentement; et sans perdre courage, Vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage: Polissez-le sans cesse et le repolissez; Ajoutez quelquefois, et souvent effacez."

"I can't listen to anyone unless he attracts me by a charming style or by beauty of theme."

"That ought to be fine, for I don’t understand a word of it."

"He has in him more aloes than honey."

"Scribentem juvat ipse favor, minuitque laborem, Cumque suo crescens pectore fervet opus."

"Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings."

"Favour assists and cheers the author’s art, And, as it grows, his work comes from the heart."

"See it be wrought on one consistent plan, And end the same creation it began."

"Studiis florentem ignobilis oti."

"A clean tablet, one from which the writing has been erased. A blank sheet of paper. A clean slate."

"Indulging in the studies of inglorious leisure."

"Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquam Viribus, et versate diu quid ferre recusent, Quid valeant humeri. Cui lecta potenter erit res, Nec facundia deseret hunc, nec lucidus ordo."

"La dernière chose qu’on trouve en faisant un ouvrage, est de scavoir celle quil faut mettre la première."

"Velut egri somnia, vanæ Fingentur species, ut nec pes, nec caput uni Reddatur formæ."

"You can’t make a rope of sand."

"Ante mare, et tellus, et, quod tegit omnia cœlum, Unus erat toto nature vultus in orbe, Quem dixere Chaos; rudis indigestaque moles."

"Terseness there wants to make the thought ring clear."

"Ere sea, and land and heaven’s vault were made, Nature, throughout the globe, bore one aspect, Called chaos—a rude and undigested mass."

"A felicitous thought is as clearly exprest, And true words are not wanting in which it is drest."

"Est brevitate opus ut currat sententia."

"Arenæ funis effici non potest."

"Like sick men’s dreams, when shadowy images appear, and nether head nor feet fit their respective forms."

"Le style c’est l’homme."

"In writing a book, the last thing that one learns is to know what to put first."

"The style shows the man."

"Good authors, take a brother bard’s advice: Ponder your subject o’er not once or twice, And oft and oft consider if the weight You hope to lift be, or be not too great. Let but our theme be equal to our powers, Choice language, clear arrangement, both are ours."

"Idle reader: thou mayest believe me without any oath that I would this book, as it is the child of my brain, were the fairest, gayest, and cleverest that could be imagined. But I could not counteract Nature’s law that everything shall beget its like; and what, then, could this sterile, illtilled wit of mine beget but the story of a dry, shrivelled, whimsical offspring, full of thoughts of all sorts and such as never came into any other imagination—just what might be begotten in a prison, where every misery is lodged and every doleful sound makes its dwelling? Tranquillity, a cheerful retreat, pleasant fields, bright skies, murmuring brooks, peace of mind, these are the things that go far to make even the most barren muses fertile, and bring into the world births that fill it with wonder and delight."

"Where’er you find ‘the cooling western breeze,’ In the next line, it ‘whispers thro’ the trees;’ If crystal streams ‘with pleasing murmurs creep,’ The reader’s threaten’d (not in vain) with ‘sleep;’ Then, at the last and only couplet, fraught With some unmeaning thing they call a thought, A needless Alexandrine ends the song, That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along."

"Scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons."

"Of writing well be sure the secret lies In wisdom: therefore study to be wise."

"Servetur ad imum Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet."

"Mere grace is not enough: a play should thrill The hearer’s soul, and move it at its will."

"A felicitous thought is as clearly exprest, And true words are not wanting in which it is drest."

"Verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur."

"Dans l’art d’intéresser consiste l’art d’écrire."

"The art of writing consists in the art of interesting the reader."

"All votes he gains who can unite Profit with pleasure, and delight His reader’s fancy, all the time He gives instruction couched in rhyme."

"Τu nihil invita dices faciesve Minerva."

"Multa quidem scripsi: sed que vitiosa putavi Emendaturis ignibus ipse dedi."

"Ce qui n’est pas clair, n’est pas Français."