"Whoever only reads in order to transcribe wise and shining Remarks, without entering into the Genius and Spirit of the Author, as it is probable that he will make no very judicious Extract, so he will be apt to trust to that Collection in all his Compositions, and be misled out of the regular Way of thinking, in order to introduce those Materials which he has been at the Pains to gather: And the Product of all this will be found a manifest and incoherent Piece of Patchwork."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Jonathan Swift, "Letter to a Young Gentleman, Lately Enter’d Into Holy Orders by a Person of Quality" (1721)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Quotations
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Quotations
135 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Quotations →
Related Quotes
"An apt quotation is like a lamp which flings its light over the whole sentence."
"To appreciate and use correctly a valuable maxim requires a genius, a vital appropriating exercise of mind, closely a…"
"Like your body, your mind also gets tired, so refresh it by wise sayings."
"Books of quotations are an elemental model of how culture is perpetuated, the wisdom of the trite passed on to poster…"
"Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay to an author. Perhaps the next highest is, when a writer of any kind …"
"The man whose book is filled with quotations, has been said to creep along the shore of authors, as if he were afraid…"
"In general, when reading a scholarly critic, one profits more from his quotations than from his comments."
"Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in less important …"
"There is not less wit nor invention in applying rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being the first author…"
"A witty saying proves nothing."