Quotes
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The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
George Orwell (1903 - 1950), "Politics and the English Language", 1946 From: http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/language/ |
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It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), Roving Commission: My Early Life, 1930, Chapter 9 http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/quotations/31.html If you look at what Churchill wrote, his use of the word 'you' is a little odd. A more modern author would probably say: The quotations when engraved upon my memory give me, good thoughts. The quotations when engraved upon my memory gave me, good thoughts. The quotations when engraved upon my memory gave me, good ideas. They also made me, anxious to read the authors and look for more. Churchill use of 'word tense' is rather odd. Rather like the Queen, will say: "We are not amused". Churchill is referring to himself as 'you'. So he is writing about himself, as if he is writing for someone else. "The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts." The quotations when engraved upon the memory, will give you good thoughts. Is he describing himself?: The quotations when engraved upon my memory give me, good thoughts. or is he prescribing something for someone else?: The quotations when engraved upon the memory will give you good thoughts. |