"The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes..." - Quote by Winston Churchill
The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning.
More by Winston Churchill
“The tank was originally invented to clear a way for the infantry in the teeth of machine-gun fire. Now it is the infantry who will have to clear a way for the tanks.”
“Gentleman, I am hardening on this enterprise. I repeat, I am now hardening towards this enterprise.”
“Democracy is an awful way to run a country, but it's the best system we have.”
More on Communication
“If you don't ask, you don't get it”
“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?”
“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself. Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
More on Writing
“So long as I remain alive and well I shall continue to feel strongly about prose style, to love the surface of the earth, and to take a pleasure in solid objects and scraps of useless information.”
“Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.”
“I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering.”