(85 quotes found)
“RIME, n. Agreeing sounds in the terminals of verse, mostly bad. The verses themselves, as distinguished from prose, mostly dull. Usually (and wickedly) spelled "rhyme."”
Ambrose Bierce
“For me, poetry is an evasion of the real job of writing prose”
Sylvia Plath
“For a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability.”
Camilo Jose Cela
“I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order; poetry = the best words in the best order”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“The hardest thing to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do.”
Ernest Hemingway
“Good authors, too, who once knew better words Now use only four-letter words Writing prose - Anything goes”
Cole Porter
“Good prose is the selection of the best words; poetry is the best words in the best order; and journalese is any old words in any old order”
Alan Brewer
“EPIGRAM, n. A short, sharp saying in prose or verse, frequently characterize by acidity or acerbity and sometimes by wisdom. Following are some of the more notable epigrams of the learned and ingenious Dr. Jamrach Holobom:We know better the needs of ourselves than of others. To serve oneself is economy of administration.In each human heart are a tiger, a pig, an ass and a nightingale. Diversity of character is due to their unequal activity.There are three sexes; males, females and girls.Beauty in women and distinction in men are alike in this: they seem to be the unthinking a kind of credibility.Women in love are less ashamed than men. They have less to be ashamed of.While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are safe, for you can watch both his.”
“One merit of poetry few persons will deny; it says more, and in few words, than prose”
Voltaire
“For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain [and] the noise of battle. [It] has the power to give grief or universality that lends it a youthful beauty.”
John Cheever
