Library / Literature & Fiction
Slips of speech
- Pages
- about 145
- Category
- Literature & Fiction
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2.7 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
“We should be as careful of our words as of our actions.”—CICERO.
Taste is a universal gift. It has been found in some degree in all
nations, races, and ages. It is shown by the savage in his love of
personal decoration; by the civilized man in his love of art.
But while it is thus universal, it is as different among men as their
faces, complexions, characters, or languages. Even among people of the
same nation, it is as different as the degrees of society. The same
individual at different periods of life, shows this variableness of
taste.
These diversities of taste imply a susceptibility to improvement. Good
taste in writing forms no exception to the rule. While it seems to
require some basis in nature, no degree of inborn aptitude will
compensate for the lack of careful training.
To give his natural taste firmness and fineness a writer needs to read
the best literature, not merely so
as to know it, but so as to feel the beauty, the fitness, the charm,
the strength, the delicacy of a well-chosen word.
The study of the proper arrangement and the most effective expression
of our thoughts prompts us to think more accurately. So close is the
connection between the thought and its expression that looseness of
style in speaking and writing may nearly always be traced to
indistinctness and feebleness in the grasp of the subject. No degree of
polish in expression will compensate for inadequacy of knowledge. But
with the fullest information upon any subject, there is still room for
the highest exercise of judgment and good sense in the proper choice
and arrangement of the thoughts, and of the words with which to express
them.
The concurrent testimony of those best qualified to render a decision,
has determined what authors reflect the finest literary taste, and
these writers should be carefully studied by all who aspire to
elegance, accuracy, and strength in literary expression.
A short sample. Read the whole book
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