Literary Sophistication Quotes

Exactness is first obtained, and afterwards elegance. But diction, merely vocal, is always in its childhood. As no man leaves his eloquence behind him, the new generations have all to learn. There may possibly be books without a polished language, but there can be no polished language without books.

Be subtle, various, ornamental, clever, And do not listen to those critics ever Whose crude provincial gullets crave in books Plain cooking made still plainer by plain cooks.

Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.

Taste is to literature what bon ton is in society.

There are other writers who try for subtle and minimalists effects, but I don't travel in that tribe.

She was widely read enough to appreciate my literary wit but not so widely read that she knew my sources. I like that in a woman.

Confusing the author and the character seems to be a popular and rather unsophisticated reaction to books.

Bookishness, highest literacy, every technique of cultural propaganda and training not only can accompany bestiality and oppression and despotism but at certain points foster it.

Why not write a book which is as sophisticated as a book for an adult, but is about the concerns that teenagers actually have?