#obscurity — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Horace

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

Saturday, August 2, 2025

HIV rates among Russian soldiers surge 2,000% since start of full-scale invasion of Ukraine — Ukraine is deploying new drones to target Russian armor beyond radio horizon — Russia’s industrial activity falls to lowest level since 2022, Reuters reports — With all eyes on Kyiv, its surrounding villages are unspoken victims of Russian attacks … and more

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2025/08/saturday-august-2-2025/

A quotation from John Adams

The poor man’s conscience is clear; yet he is ashamed. His character is irreproachable, yet he is neglected and despised. He feels himself out of the sight of others, groping in the dark. Mankind takes no notice of him: he rambles and wanders unheeded. In the midst of a crowd, at church, in the market, at a play, at an execution or coronation, he is in as much obscurity as he would be in a garret or a cellar. He is not disapproved, censured, or reproached: he is only not seen. This total inattention is to him, mortifying, painful and cruel. […] To be wholly overlooked, and to know it, are intolerable.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Essay (1790), “Discourses on Davila: A Series of Papers on Political History,” No. 5, Gazette of the United States

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-john/18189/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #destitute #homeless #ignored #invisibility #obscurity #poor #poverty #unseen

A quotation from Bill Watterson

CALVIN: I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!

Bill Watterson (b. 1958) American cartoonist
Calvin and Hobbes (1993-02-11)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/watterson-bill/4095/

#quote #quotes #quotation #academia #academics #clarity #jargon #logorrhea #obscurity #school #writing #thesis #assignment #termpaper #wordiness #miscommunication

A quotation from Orwell, George:

«
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.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/orwell-george/5188/

#quote #quotes #quotation #clarity #communication #deceit #deception #dishonesty #insincerity #language #obfuscation #obscurity

A quotation from Orwell, George:

«
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.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/orwell-george/5188/

#quote #quotes #quotation #clarity #communication #deceit #deception #dishonesty #insincerity #language #obfuscation #obscurity

A quotation from Orwell, George:

«
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.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/orwell-george/5188/

#quote #quotes #quotation #clarity #communication #deceit #deception #dishonesty #insincerity #language #obfuscation #obscurity

A quotation from Orwell, George:

«
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.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/orwell-george/5188/

#quote #quotes #quotation #clarity #communication #deceit #deception #dishonesty #insincerity #language #obfuscation #obscurity

A quotation from Orwell, George:

«
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.
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/orwell-george/5188/

#quote #quotes #quotation #clarity #communication #deceit #deception #dishonesty #insincerity #language #obfuscation #obscurity

There was so much fog the further up the road you went, the idea of driving down it was scary.

#Photography #Fog #Myst #Night #Urban #Van #Spooky #Gloom #Vapor #Miasma #Obscurity #NorthernIreland #LoveBelfast