Style
Quotes
Style is the unique and expressive manner in which someone or something is presented, a deliberate orchestration of elements reflecting personality, purpose, or aesthetic vision. It is meaningful because it allows us to communicate our individuality, connect with others who share similar sensibilities, and imbue the mundane with beauty and significance, ultimately shaping our identity and lived experience.
# Style & Literature
• As a legal formula, it exactly corresponds with the Scotch Not proven, and in this sense is used by Cicero, pro Cluentio 28, 76.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Obscurity of style)
“It is not evident.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Obscurity of style)
“Non liquet.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Polished style)
“Ore rotundo.”
• Polished diction: flowing periods.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Polished style)
“In well-turned phrase.”
• Celebrated aphorism, supposed to have been enunciated by Buffon in his no less celebrated Discours de Réception on admission to the French Academy, 25 August 1753. It is one of those numerous cases where one has to record not what the speaker said, so much as what he ought to have said, and the precise form of the phrase is still undetermined. The quotation merely represents the tradition of the vulgar, rejected by the critics in favour either of Le style est de l’homme même, of the Nouvelle Biographie Générale (Didot), s.v. “Buffon”; or of Le style est l’homme même of Richard’s edition of Buffon (Paris, 1842), vol. i. p. 10. The unfortunate circumstance militating against the authenticity of the famous axiom in any shape, is its absence in the official report of the Discours in the Recueil des Harangues prononcées par MM. de l’Académie Françoise (1764, vol. 6, p. 176, 2nd ed.). The passage in question, with the interpolated words in square brackets, is as follows:—Ces choses (les connoissances, les faits et les découvertes) sont bors de l’homme, [le style est l’homme méme] le style ne peut done ni s’enlever, ni se transporter, ni s’altérer: s’il est éleve, noble, sublime, l’auteur sera également admiré dans tous les temps.Roger Alexandre (Musée de la Conversation, p. 497) appears to vouch for an existing impression (plaquette) of Buffon’s “Address,” printed in the same year (1753), in which the saying is given in the form Le style est l’homme méme; but for this solitary witness to the contrary—which I have been unable to verify—I should have concluded that the phrase was never said at all, and with reason: (1) from its absence in the official publication above mentioned; (2) from its absence in the Correspondance of (J. M. von) Grimm, who, writing within a week of the event (1 September 1753), reports the salient points of the “Discourse” almost verbatim, and yet nowhere makes an allusion to the celebrated mot. Besides, it is hardly imaginable that Buffon, with the extraordinary care that he habitually bestowed upon his published works in the way of accuracy, polish, and effect—his Époques de la Nature was copied and re-copied eleven times before being handed to the printer—would have allowed the official report of his famous “Discourse” to have appeared in print minus the great saying which made its fortune, had he ever said it. Larousse, in his Dictionnaire Universelle (s.v. STYLE), accounts for the quotation as a necessary “deduction” from the passage in question, and I wholly agree with him. The sentence, as usually quoted, was never said at all.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075)
“The style shows the man.”
# Style & Themes
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Neat, not gaudy.”
• Original text:
Le style c'est l'homme.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“The style is the man.”
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Style is the dress of thoughts.”
• Original text:
L'obscurité est le royaume de l'erreur.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Obscurity is the realm of error.”
• Original text:
La clarté orne les pensées profondes.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.”
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Neat, not gaudy.”
• As a legal formula, it exactly corresponds with the Scotch Not proven, and in this sense is used by Cicero, pro Cluentio 28, 76.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Obscurity of style)
“It is not evident.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Obscurity of style)
“Non liquet.”
• Original text:
Le style c'est l'homme.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“The style is the man.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Polished style)
“Ore rotundo.”
• Polished diction: flowing periods.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Polished style)
“In well-turned phrase.”
• Celebrated aphorism, supposed to have been enunciated by Buffon in his no less celebrated Discours de Réception on admission to the French Academy, 25 August 1753. It is one of those numerous cases where one has to record not what the speaker said, so much as what he ought to have said, and the precise form of the phrase is still undetermined. The quotation merely represents the tradition of the vulgar, rejected by the critics in favour either of Le style est de l’homme même, of the Nouvelle Biographie Générale (Didot), s.v. “Buffon”; or of Le style est l’homme même of Richard’s edition of Buffon (Paris, 1842), vol. i. p. 10. The unfortunate circumstance militating against the authenticity of the famous axiom in any shape, is its absence in the official report of the Discours in the Recueil des Harangues prononcées par MM. de l’Académie Françoise (1764, vol. 6, p. 176, 2nd ed.). The passage in question, with the interpolated words in square brackets, is as follows:—Ces choses (les connoissances, les faits et les découvertes) sont bors de l’homme, [le style est l’homme méme] le style ne peut done ni s’enlever, ni se transporter, ni s’altérer: s’il est éleve, noble, sublime, l’auteur sera également admiré dans tous les temps.Roger Alexandre (Musée de la Conversation, p. 497) appears to vouch for an existing impression (plaquette) of Buffon’s “Address,” printed in the same year (1753), in which the saying is given in the form Le style est l’homme méme; but for this solitary witness to the contrary—which I have been unable to verify—I should have concluded that the phrase was never said at all, and with reason: (1) from its absence in the official publication above mentioned; (2) from its absence in the Correspondance of (J. M. von) Grimm, who, writing within a week of the event (1 September 1753), reports the salient points of the “Discourse” almost verbatim, and yet nowhere makes an allusion to the celebrated mot. Besides, it is hardly imaginable that Buffon, with the extraordinary care that he habitually bestowed upon his published works in the way of accuracy, polish, and effect—his Époques de la Nature was copied and re-copied eleven times before being handed to the printer—would have allowed the official report of his famous “Discourse” to have appeared in print minus the great saying which made its fortune, had he ever said it. Larousse, in his Dictionnaire Universelle (s.v. STYLE), accounts for the quotation as a necessary “deduction” from the passage in question, and I wholly agree with him. The sentence, as usually quoted, was never said at all.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075)
“The style shows the man.”
• Said of the “Annals” of Rome, as a piece of reading.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Unpolished style)
“Nothing can be more rugged.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Polished style)
“Limæ labor ac mora.”
• The response of the Cumæan Sibyl to Æneas.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Obscurity of style)
“Cloaking the truth in mystery.”
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Style is the dress of thoughts.”
• Original text:
L'obscurité est le royaume de l'erreur.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Obscurity is the realm of error.”
• Cp. Arena sine calce. Suetonius, Caligula 53.—“Sand without lime”.Said by Caligula of the Tragedies of Seneca, from their unconnected character; and applicable to any desultory, disjointed performance.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Confused style)
“You can’t make a rope of sand.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Obscurity of style)
“Obscuris vera involvens.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Unpolished style)
“Nihil est hirsutius illis.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075)
“Le style c’est l’homme.”
• Descriptive of a writer whose strength lies in sarcasm.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Writing style" (Quotes, Classical and Foreign Quotations:
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Caustic style)
“He has in him more aloes than honey.”
• Original text:
La clarté orne les pensées profondes.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.”
Quotes reported in: W. F. H. King, ed., Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 277, 333, 447, 1760, 1844, 3025; 1978, 2890; 356, 837, 1648, 1843, 1978, 2431; 1979; 2113; 275; 679; 133, 151, 2879; 1355; 2366; 542, 1421, 1975; 1638, 1693; 3075, Caustic style)
“Plus aloes quam mellis habet.”
• Original text:
Che stilo oltra l'ingegno non si stende.
• Source: Wikiquote: "Style" (Quotes, Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations:
Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 758-59.)
“For style beyond the genius never dares.”
Literature
Writingstyle
Themes