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What is eloquence? Do I need intuition rather than reasoning? How should I order things in my book?
From: Pascal, Pensees, tr. by W. F. Trotter
Page 3
Yes, but it is useless without explanation, and when we come to explain it, as soon as we unfold this maxim which contains all the rest,
they emerge in that first confusion which you desired to avoid. So, when they are all included in one, they are hidden and useless, as in a chest, and never appear save in their natural confusion. Nature has established them all without including one in the other.
Golden rulesSome happy talent, and some fortunate opportunity, may form the two sides of the ladder on which some men mount, but the rounds of that ladder must be made of stuff to stand wear and tear; and there is no substitute for thorough-going, ardent, and sincere earnestness. Never to put one hand to anything, on which I could throw my whole self; and never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was; I find, now, to have been my golden rules.
From Dickens' David Copperfield
23. Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have different effects.
Purpose30. We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting. The rule is uprightness. Beauty of omission, of judgement.
Morals46. A maker of witticisms, a bad character.
Cf. Aristotle Anthology | Rilke, Letter to a Young Poet | Plato, Whom are we talking to? | Kierkegaard, My work as an author | Emerson, Self-knowledge | Gibson - McRury, Discovering one's face | Emerson, We differ in art, not in wisdom | Joyce, Portrait of the Artist
