#brevity — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #brevity, aggregated by home.social.
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To bone, or: Breathing between words
A Sijo
these I have loved: suggestion the silence breathing between words; restraint pares these thoughts to bone what stays withheld gathers force; absence opens into abundance— all these have been my loves
d’Verse poetics: The great lover
At d’Verse, we are encouraged to write a list poem beginning with “These I have loved:” that celebrates the ordinary things we treasure through precise, sensory details. Continue the catalogue at length and conclude with “All these have been my loves.”
Sijo?
A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.
Let’s write poetry together!
When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.
–Ben Harper (b. 1969)Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!
#Absence #Abundance #Brevity #force #Love #Omission #Poem #Poetry #Restraint #Sijo #Silence #Suggestion -
🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated -
🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated -
🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated -
🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated -
🎭 Ah, the #art #of "phronesis" checking! 🤓 Apparently, the secret to a passing check is simply to redefine "broken" #as "works as #intended." 🛠️ Who knew that #coherence really just means "keep it short and sweet"? 😂
https://phronesis.world/papers/ways-of-checking/ #phronesis #checking #humor #broken #brevity #HackerNews #ngated -
Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering
#HackerNews #Brevity #PromptEngineering #LanguageEfficiency #TechInsights
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Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering
#HackerNews #Brevity #PromptEngineering #LanguageEfficiency #TechInsights
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
Life is a shadowy, strange, and winding road on which we travel for a little way — a few short steps — just from the cradle, with its lullaby of love, to the low and quiet way-side inn, where all at last must sleep, and where the only salutation is — Good-night.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Essay (1881-11) “The Christian Religion,” “Part 2” North American Review, Vol. 133, No. 300More about this quote: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #robertgreeningersoll #brevity #death #eternalrest #farewell #life #lifetime #meaningoflife #mortality #restinpeace
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I have been running a social media account of an organisation in the last years and remember how I felt that I had to post a lot back when the organisation was still on twitter. How AI was such a relieve when I didnt have to think anymore to produce tiny useless posts to shoot into this void.
So good twitter is dead (at least for me).
The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
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Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit
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Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit
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Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit
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Memento mori — remember death! These are important words. If we kept in mind that we will soon inevitably die, our lives would be completely different. If a person knows that he will die in a half hour, he certainly will not bother doing trivial, stupid, or, especially, bad things during this half hour. Perhaps you have half a century before you die — what makes this any different from a half hour?
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Path of Life [Calendar of Wisdom; Круг чтения], ch. 21 “Living in the Present,” sec. 5.12 (1903-1911) [(tr. Cote (2002)]More about this quote: wist.info/tolstoy-leo/83806/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #tolstoy #leotolstoy #pathoflife #brevity #death #goodliving #lifespan #living #mementomori #mortality #prioritization #timelimit
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May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?
The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing -
May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?
The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing -
May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?
The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing -
May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?
The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing -
May I direct your attention to this brilliantly concise post?
The Courage to Stop https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/ #Brevity, #Communication, #Edit, #Editing, #Essentials, #KillYourDarlings, #LessButBetter, #Usability, #Whitespace
#AmReading #Writing -
The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck
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The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck
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The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck
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The intensity of the favour of fortune is often balanced by the shortness of its duration, for fortune gets tired of carrying any one very long upon her shoulders.
[Recompénsase tal vez la brevedad de la duración con la intensión del favor. Cánsase la fortuna de llevar a uno a cuestas tan a la larga.]Baltasar Gracián y Morales (1601-1658) Spanish Jesuit priest, writer, philosopher
The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia], § 38 (1647) [tr. Duff (1877)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/gracian-y-morales-ba…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #gracian #baltasargracian #brevity #fortune #gambling #goodluck #luck
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Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.
https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings
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Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.
https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings
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Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.
https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings
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Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.
https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings
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Brevity was always a discipline. Now it’s a statement.
https://zeldman.com/2026/04/15/the-courage-to-stop/#HumanWritingInAITimes #brevity #WriteBetter #LessButBetter #KillYourDarlings
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A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1988-08-28)More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/82791…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #brevity #enjoyment #passageoftime #play #playing #sloth #summer #time #vacation #relaxation
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A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1988-08-28)More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/82791…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #brevity #enjoyment #passageoftime #play #playing #sloth #summer #time #vacation #relaxation
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A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1988-08-28)More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/82791…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #brevity #enjoyment #passageoftime #play #playing #sloth #summer #time #vacation #relaxation
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A quotation from Bill Watterson
CALVIN: There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.
Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1988-08-28)More about this quote: wist.info/watterson-bill/82791…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #billwatterson #calvinandhobbes #brevity #enjoyment #passageoftime #play #playing #sloth #summer #time #vacation #relaxation
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Whene’er you lecture, be concise: the soul
Takes in short maxims, and retains them whole:
But pour in water when the vessel’s filled,
It simply dribbles over and is spilled.
[Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta
percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles:
omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 335ff (2.3.335-337) (19 BC) [tr. Conington (1874)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/33634/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #advice #brevity #briefness #counsel #edification #keepitsimple #lesson #maxim #moral #moralizing #precept #succinct #teaching #wisdom
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Whene’er you lecture, be concise: the soul
Takes in short maxims, and retains them whole:
But pour in water when the vessel’s filled,
It simply dribbles over and is spilled.
[Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta
percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles:
omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 335ff (2.3.335-337) (19 BC) [tr. Conington (1874)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/33634/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #advice #brevity #briefness #counsel #edification #keepitsimple #lesson #maxim #moral #moralizing #precept #succinct #teaching #wisdom
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Whene’er you lecture, be concise: the soul
Takes in short maxims, and retains them whole:
But pour in water when the vessel’s filled,
It simply dribbles over and is spilled.
[Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta
percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles:
omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 335ff (2.3.335-337) (19 BC) [tr. Conington (1874)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/33634/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #advice #brevity #briefness #counsel #edification #keepitsimple #lesson #maxim #moral #moralizing #precept #succinct #teaching #wisdom
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Whene’er you lecture, be concise: the soul
Takes in short maxims, and retains them whole:
But pour in water when the vessel’s filled,
It simply dribbles over and is spilled.
[Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis, ut cito dicta
percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles:
omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 335ff (2.3.335-337) (19 BC) [tr. Conington (1874)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/33634/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #advice #brevity #briefness #counsel #edification #keepitsimple #lesson #maxim #moral #moralizing #precept #succinct #teaching #wisdom
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Dear sire, and offspring worthy of your fire!
We bards are dupes to what ourselves admire.
Would I be brief — I grow confused and coarse;
Who aims at smoothness, fails in fire and force;
In him who soars aloft, bombast is found;
Who fears to face the tempest, crawls aground.
Who courts variety and fain would ring
A thousand changes on the self-same string,
Will paint, as ’twere in fancy’s wildest mood
Boars in the wave and dolphins in the wood.
Thus even error, shun’d without address,
Breeds error, diff’rent in its kind, not less.
[Maxima pars vatum, pater et iuvenes patre digni,
decipimur specie recti: brevis esse laboro,
obscurus fio; sectantem levia nervi
deficiunt animique; professus grandia turget;
serpit humi tutus nimium timidusque procellae:
qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam,
delphinum silvis adpingit, fluctibus aprum:
in vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 24ff (2.3.24-31) (19 BC) [tr. Howes (1845)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/14582/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #arspoetica #poet #bombast #brevity #brief #caution #clarity #criticism #edit #error #explanation #extremes #faults #force #mistake #obscurity #overcompensation #overcorrection #poetry #smoothness #strangeness #style #succinctness #talent #timidity #tryingtoohard #unintelligibility #variety #vigor #writing
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Dear sire, and offspring worthy of your fire!
We bards are dupes to what ourselves admire.
Would I be brief — I grow confused and coarse;
Who aims at smoothness, fails in fire and force;
In him who soars aloft, bombast is found;
Who fears to face the tempest, crawls aground.
Who courts variety and fain would ring
A thousand changes on the self-same string,
Will paint, as ’twere in fancy’s wildest mood
Boars in the wave and dolphins in the wood.
Thus even error, shun’d without address,
Breeds error, diff’rent in its kind, not less.
[Maxima pars vatum, pater et iuvenes patre digni,
decipimur specie recti: brevis esse laboro,
obscurus fio; sectantem levia nervi
deficiunt animique; professus grandia turget;
serpit humi tutus nimium timidusque procellae:
qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam,
delphinum silvis adpingit, fluctibus aprum:
in vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 24ff (2.3.24-31) (19 BC) [tr. Howes (1845)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/14582/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #arspoetica #poet #bombast #brevity #brief #caution #clarity #criticism #edit #error #explanation #extremes #faults #force #mistake #obscurity #overcompensation #overcorrection #poetry #smoothness #strangeness #style #succinctness #talent #timidity #tryingtoohard #unintelligibility #variety #vigor #writing
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Dear sire, and offspring worthy of your fire!
We bards are dupes to what ourselves admire.
Would I be brief — I grow confused and coarse;
Who aims at smoothness, fails in fire and force;
In him who soars aloft, bombast is found;
Who fears to face the tempest, crawls aground.
Who courts variety and fain would ring
A thousand changes on the self-same string,
Will paint, as ’twere in fancy’s wildest mood
Boars in the wave and dolphins in the wood.
Thus even error, shun’d without address,
Breeds error, diff’rent in its kind, not less.
[Maxima pars vatum, pater et iuvenes patre digni,
decipimur specie recti: brevis esse laboro,
obscurus fio; sectantem levia nervi
deficiunt animique; professus grandia turget;
serpit humi tutus nimium timidusque procellae:
qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam,
delphinum silvis adpingit, fluctibus aprum:
in vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 24ff (2.3.24-31) (19 BC) [tr. Howes (1845)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/14582/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #horace #arspoetica #poet #bombast #brevity #brief #caution #clarity #criticism #edit #error #explanation #extremes #faults #force #mistake #obscurity #overcompensation #overcorrection #poetry #smoothness #strangeness #style #succinctness #talent #timidity #tryingtoohard #unintelligibility #variety #vigor #writing
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Dear sire, and offspring worthy of your fire!
We bards are dupes to what ourselves admire.
Would I be brief — I grow confused and coarse;
Who aims at smoothness, fails in fire and force;
In him who soars aloft, bombast is found;
Who fears to face the tempest, crawls aground.
Who courts variety and fain would ring
A thousand changes on the self-same string,
Will paint, as ’twere in fancy’s wildest mood
Boars in the wave and dolphins in the wood.
Thus even error, shun’d without address,
Breeds error, diff’rent in its kind, not less.
[Maxima pars vatum, pater et iuvenes patre digni,
decipimur specie recti: brevis esse laboro,
obscurus fio; sectantem levia nervi
deficiunt animique; professus grandia turget;
serpit humi tutus nimium timidusque procellae:
qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam,
delphinum silvis adpingit, fluctibus aprum:
in vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte.]Horace (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]
Epistles [Epistularum, Letters], Book 2, ep. 3 “Art of Poetry [Ars Poetica; To the Pisos],” l. 24ff (2.3.24-31) (19 BC) [tr. Howes (1845)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/horace/14582/
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