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		<title>Horace -- Satires [Saturae, Sermones], Book 1, # 10 &#8220;Nempe incomposito,&#8221; l.  72ff (1.10.72-73) (35 BC) [tr. Matthews (2002)]</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Mar 2025 17:46:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Horace]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Use both ends of the pencil if you hope to write what gets read twice. [Saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint scripturus.] The Romans used a stylus to write on waxed tablets; analogous to a modern pencil with eraser, one end of the stylus was pointy to engrave the letters, the other flat [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Use both ends of the pencil if you hope<br />
to write what gets read twice.</p>
<p><em>[Saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint<br />
scripturus.]</em></p>
<br><b>Horace</b> (65–8 BC) Roman poet, satirist, soldier, politician [Quintus Horatius Flaccus]<br><i>Satires [Saturae, Sermones]</i>, Book 1, # 10 <i>&#8220;Nempe incomposito,&#8221;</i> l.  72ff (1.10.72-73) (35 BC) [tr. Matthews (2002)] 
						<br><br><span class="cite">
						

The Romans used a stylus to write on waxed tablets; analogous to a modern pencil with eraser, one end of the stylus was pointy to engrave the letters, the other flat to smooth the wax out for revision.<br><br>

(<a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0062%3Abook%3D1%3Apoem%3D10%3Acard%3D50#:~:text=saepe%20stilum%20vertas%2C%20iterum%20quae%20digna%20legi%20sint%0Ascripturus">Source (Latin)</a>). Other translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>For nowe, who lookes to beare the bel, his doyngs he muste cull, <br>
At home with hym, and better adde, then he dyd erste out pull.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A03670.0001.001/1:9.10?rgn=div2;view=fulltext#backDLPS54:~:text=For%20nowe%2C%20who,erste%20out%20pull.">Drant</a> (1567)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>He that would write what should twice reading stand,<br>
Must often be upon the mending hand.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=eebo;c=eebo;idno=a44478.0001.001;node=A44478.0001.001:7;seq=1;rgn=div1;view=text#:~:text=He%20that%20wou,the%20mending%20hand">A. B.</a>; ed. Brome (1666)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>When you design a lasting Piece, be wise,<br>
Amend, Correct, again, again Revise.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=eebo;c=eebo;idno=a44471.0001.001;node=A44471.0001.001:7;seq=1;rgn=div1;view=text#:~:text=When%20you%20design,again%2C%20again%20Revise">Creech</a> (1684)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Would you a reader's just esteem engage? <br>
Correct with frequent care the blotted page.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/satiresepistlesi00hora/page/74/mode/2up?q=%22would+you+a+reader%27s%22">Francis</a> (1747)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Spare not erasion, ye that wish your strain,<br>
When once perused, to be perused again.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Epodes_Satires_and_Epistles_of_Horac/TPgDAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22spare%20not%22">Howes</a> (1845)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>You that intend to write what is worthy to be read more than once, blot frequently.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0063%3Abook%3D1%3Apoem%3D10%3Acard%3D50#:~:text=You%20that%20intend%20to%20write%20what%20is%20worthy%20to%20be%20read%20more%20than%20once%2C%20blot%20frequently">Smart/Buckley</a> (1853)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Ofttimes erase, if you intend to write what may prove worth a second reading.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/satiresofhoracei00hora/page/64/mode/2up?q=%22intend+to+write%22">Millington</a> (1870)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Oh yes! believe me, you must draw your pen<br>
<span class="tab">Not once nor twice but o'er and o'er again<br>
Through what you've written, if you would entice<br>
<span class="tab">The man that reads you once to read you twice.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Satires,_Epistles_%26_Art_of_Poetry_of_Horace/Sat1-10#:~:text=Oh%20yes!%20believe%20me%2C%20you%20must%20draw%20your%20pen%0ANot%20once%20nor%20twice%20but%20o%27er%20and%20o%27er%20again%0AThrough%20what%20you%27ve%20written%2C%20if%20you%20would%20entice%0AThe%20man%20that%20reads%20you%20once%20to%20read%20you%20twice">Conington</a> (1874)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Often must you turn your pencil to erase, if you hope to write something worth a second reading.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/satiresepistlesa00horauoft/page/120/mode/2up?q=pencil">Fairclough</a> (Loeb) (1926)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>You’ll often have to erase if you mean to write something <br>
Worth reading twice. <br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/satiresanndepist0000hora/page/80/mode/2up?q=%22you%27ll+often+have+to+erase%22">Palmer Bovie</a> (1959)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Keep reversing your pencil if you'd like to write a piece <br>
worth reading twice.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/horacessatiresep0000hora/page/22/mode/2up?q=%22keep+reversing%22">Fuchs</a> (1977)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab">For you must often<br>
reverse your stylus and revise, if you wish<br>
to write things worthy of being reread.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/completeodessati0000hora/page/242/mode/2up?q=%22you+must+often%22">Alexander</a> (1999)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>If you hope to deserve a second reading you must often employ <br>
the rubber at the end of your pencil. <br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/satiresofhoracep00hora/page/36/mode/2up?q=%22if+you+hope+to+deserve%22">Rudd</a> (2005 ed.)] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>If you want to write what’s worth a second reading,<br>
You must often reverse your stylus, and smooth the wax.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/HoraceSatiresBkISatX.php#anchor_Toc98155850:~:text=If%20you%20want,smooth%20the%20wax">Kline</a> (2015)]</blockquote><br>						</span>
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		<title>Shakespeare, William -- Hamlet, Act 2, sc. 2, l.  97 (2.2.97) (c. 1600)</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2016 15:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Shakespeare, William]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[cleverness]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[POLONIUS: Brevity is the soul of wit. In full, from the least brief-speaking character in the play: Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief &#8230;.&#8221;]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>POLONIUS: Brevity is the soul of wit.</p>
<br><b>William Shakespeare</b> (1564–1616) English dramatist and poet<br><i>Hamlet</i>, Act 2, sc. 2, l.  97 (2.2.97) (c. 1600) 
						<br><br><span class="cite">
						

In full, from the least brief-speaking character in the play:<br><br>

<blockquote>Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,<br>
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,<br>
I will be brief ...."</blockquote><br>

						</span>
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		<title>Billings, Josh -- Everybody&#8217;s Friend, Or; Josh Billing&#8217;s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 239 &#8220;Missellaneous: Writers at Short Range&#8221; (1874)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/billings-josh/33167/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Apr 2016 15:58:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Billings, Josh]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Thare iz grate power in words, if yu don&#8217;t hitch tew menny ov them together. There is great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thare iz grate power in words, if yu don&#8217;t hitch tew menny ov them together.</p>
<p>There is great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.</p>
<br><b>Josh Billings</b> (1818–1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]<br><i>Everybody&#8217;s Friend, Or; Josh Billing&#8217;s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor</i>, ch. 239 &#8220;Missellaneous: Writers at Short Range&#8221; (1874) 
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		<title>Hugo, Victor -- Victor Hugo&#8217;s Intellectual Autobiography [Postscriptum de ma Vie], &#8220;Thoughts,&#8221; sec. 3 (1901) [tr. O&#8217;Rourke (1907)]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/hugo-victor/27581/</link>
		<comments>https://wist.info/hugo-victor/27581/#respond</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Nov 2014 13:43:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hugo, Victor]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in life. [Concision dans le style, précision dans la pensée, décision dans la vie.] (Source (French))]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in life.</p>
<p><em>[Concision dans le style, précision dans la pensée, décision dans la vie.]</em></p>
<br><b>Victor Hugo</b> (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician<br><i>Victor Hugo&#8217;s Intellectual Autobiography [Postscriptum de ma Vie]</i>, &#8220;Thoughts,&#8221; sec. 3 (1901) [tr. O&#8217;Rourke (1907)] 
						<br><br><span class="cite">
						

(<a href="https://www.dicocitations.com/citations/citation-98156.php">Source (French)</a>)



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