To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences. [ William Shakespeare ]
Hunger is not satisfied with wise sentences. [ Proverb ]
A great mans foolish sayings pass for sentences. [ Proverb ]
Potted wisdom: Short sentences drawn from long experiences. [ Cervantes ]
Sentences are like sharp nails which force truth upon our memory. [ Diderot ]
Long sentences in a short composition are like large rooms in a little house. [ Shenstone ]
We have some writers so abstruse and deep that they drown themselves in their fathomless sentences. [ H. W. Shaw ]
I have always tried to write Saxon rather than Latin, in short words rather than long, and specially in short sentences. [ Edward Everett Hale, The Art Of Authorship, 1891 ]
I would fain coin wisdom - mould it, I mean, into maxims, proverbs, sentences, that can easily be retained and transmitted. [ Joubert ]
Post or Inform? The misuse of post for inform in such sentences as, I will post you about it,
is as inelegant as it is inaccurate. [ Pure English, Hackett And Girvin, 1884 ]
Short, isolated sentences were the mode in which ancient wisdom delighted to convey its precepts for the regulation of human conduct. [ Bishop Warburton ]
Under the veil of these curious sentences are hid those germs of morals which the masters of philosophy have afterwards developed into so many volumes. [ Plutarch ]
I am of opinion that there are no proverbial sayings which are not true, because they are all sentences drawn from experience itself, who is the mother of all sciences. [ Cervantes ]
He may justly be numbered among the benefactors of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and taught by frequent recollection to recur habitually to the mind. [ Johnson ]
Burke's sentences are pointed at the end, instinct with pungent sense to the last syllable. They are like a charioteer's whip, which not only has a long and effective lash, but cracks and inflicts a still smarter sensation at the end. [ John Foster ]
Negligence or Neglect? Negligence is a habit; neglect is an act. The following sentences illustrate the difference in the meaning of these words:
His negligence was the source of all his misfortunes,
By his neglect he lost the opportunity.
[ Pure English, Hackett And Girvin, 1884 ]
We know much of a writer by his style. An open and imperious disposition is shown in short sentences, direct and energetic. A secretive and proud mind is cold and obscure in style. An affectionate and imaginative nature pours out luxuriantly, and blossoms all over with ornament. [ Beecher ]
A few words worthy to be remembered suffice to give an idea of a great mind. There are single thoughts that contain the essence of a whole volume, single sentences that have the beauties of a large work, a simplicity so finished and so perfect that it equals in merit and in excellence a large and glorious composition. [ Joubert ]
We frequently fall into error and folly, not because the true principles of action are not known, but because for a time they are not remembered; he may, therefore, justly be numbered among the benefactors of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences that may early be impressed on the memory, and taught by frequent recollection to occur habitually to the mind. [ Johnson ]
You must study to give colour by apt images, and warmth by natural passion and earnestness. The music of words and the cadence of sentences is a matter which depends on the ear. Above all things monotony in the form of the sentences is to be avoided; variety means wealth and always pleases. Condensation also ought to be particularly studied, and a loose, rambling, ill-compacted form of sentence avoided. [ John Stuart Blackie, The Art Of Authorship, 1891 ]