Prose Quotes

“Prose exists to convey meaning, and no meaning such as prose conveys can be precise.”

“With this swell guy I had a drink and yarn. He is a swell guy. It is a swell book.”

“It is the end of a fine winter's day, and I am hanging out of the window.”

“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make.”

“His voice was like a sword, less because of its power than its suddenness.”

“English as tuppence, changing yet changeless as canal water, nestling in green nowhere.”

“The rhythm of a piece of prose is not explained by the beat, but by the breathing.”

“I think poetry is a way of saying what can't be said in prose.”

“He had a face like a benediction.”

“Good prose is not something that can be taught by formula; it is the product of a clear mind and a sensitive ear.”

“Prose is a much more democratic form than poetry.”

“They have therefore been most rigorous in putting in execution the only Remedy that can be found for this extravagance, and that has been a constant Resolution to reject all the amplifications, digressions, and swellings of style; to return back to the primitive purity and shortness, when men deliver'd so many things almost in an equal number of words.”

“A poem is a democratic state, whereas a prose discourse is a totalitarian state.”

“Prose is not to be read aloud but to oneself alone at night, and it is not quick as poetry but rather a gathering web of insinuations which come to you out of printed pages.”

“I write for the ear not the eye.”