WIST Quotations

Moliere -- Les Femmes Savantes [The Learned Ladies], Act 2, sc. 7, (1692) [tr. Marks (2018)]

Dave — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 21:08:43 +0000

CHRYSALE: As for me, I’d prefer that, while peeling the veggies,
She misaligns a few subjects and verbs,
And repeats fifty times a low and vulgar word,
Than that she burns my meat or over-salts my stew.
I live on good soup, not on fine language.

[J’aime bien mieux, pour moi, qu’en épluchant ses herbes,
Elle accommode mal les noms avec les verbes,
Et redise cent fois un bas ou méchant mot,
Que de brûler ma viande ou saler trop mon pot.
Je vis de bonne soupe, et non de beau langage.]

Molière (1622–1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Les Femmes Savantes [The Learned Ladies], Act 2, sc. 7, (1692) [tr. Marks (2018)]

(Source (French)). Other translations:

For my part, I had much rather that she join'd the Nouns and Verbs falsely, and repeated a servile bad Word a hundred times in picking her Herbs, than have her burn my Meat or oversalt my Broth. I live by good Soup, and not by fine Language.
[tr. Clitandre (1739)]

I would rather, I would, that in cleaning the vegetables she should make the verbs agree ill with the nouns, and say a hundred times a low or bad word, than that she should burn my meat or put too much salt in my soup; I live on good soup;, and not on fine language.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]

I had much rather that while picking her herbs, she should join wrongly the nouns to the verbs, and repeat a hundred times a coarse or vulgar word, than that she should burn my roast, or put too much salt in my broth. I live on good soup, and not on fine language.
[tr. Wall (1879), The Learned Women]

For my part, I had much rather that in picking her herbs she made the nouns and the verbs agree wrongly and repeated some outrageous word a hundred times, than have her burn my meat or oversalt my broth. I live by good soup, and not by fine language.
[tr. Matthew (1890), The Blue-Stockings]

For my part, I'd rather she would make a mess of nouns and verbs, or use a low and vulgar word a dozen times a day, than burn my meat and oversalt my soup. Good food is what I live on, not fine language.
[tr. Wormeley (1895), The Female Pedants]

Truly, I would much rather she failed to make her nouns agree with her verbs while washing her vegetables, and indulged in low or bad words a hundred times over, than burn my meat or oversalt my soup. I live by good soup, and not on fine language.
[tr. Waller (1903)]

I'd rather have her, while she cleans her salad,
Make verbs and subjects disagree, and say
Some low or vulgar word a hundred times,
Than burn my roast or over-salt my broth.
I live on well-cooked food, and not fine language.
[tr. Page (1908)]

For my part, I would rather that, while peeling her vegetables, she makes her verbs agree badly with her nouns and repeats a hundred times a low or bad word, than that she burns my meat or puts too much salt into my soup. I live by good soup and not by beautiful language.
[tr. Waldinger (1967)]

If she makes a tasty salad, it seems to me
Her subjects and her verbs need not agree.
Let all her talk be barbarous, if she’ll not
Burn up my beef or over-salt the pot.
It’s food, not language, that I’m nourished by.
[tr. Wilbur (1977)]

Her crudités for salad were sublime,
So if her verbal crudité's a crime
She has atoned for it in her cuisine.
Her language and her legumes may be green
But when my appetite rears up its voice,
The latter, not the former is its choice.
[tr. Thomas (2005 ed.)]

Herbert, George -- Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 302 (1640 ed.)

Dave — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 16:58:44 +0000

That is not good language which all understand not.

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh priest, orator, poet.
Jacula Prudentum, or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. (compiler), # 302 (1640 ed.)

Maggio, Rosalie -- Talking About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language, “Writing Guidelines” (1997)

Dave — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 05:43:55 +0000

Language doesn’t belong to grammarians, linguists, wordsmiths, writers, or editors. It belongs to the people who use it. It goes where people want it to go, and, like a balky mule, you can’t make it go where it doesn’t want to go.

Rosalie Maggio (1944–2021) American writer
Talking About People: A Guide to Fair and Accurate Language, “Writing Guidelines” (1997)

Parker, Dorothy -- “Book Reviews,” Esquire (1 Nov 1959)

Dave — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 21:49:02 +0000

If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American writer, poet, wit
“Book Reviews,” Esquire (1 Nov 1959)

Review of William Strunk Jr and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, revised edition.

Cobbett, William -- A Grammar of the English Language, Letter 2 (1818)

Dave — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 01:02:08 +0000

Grammar, perfectly understood, enables us, not only to express our meaning fully and clearly, but so to express it as to enable us to defy the ingenuity of man to give to our words any other meaning than that which we ourselves intend them to express.

William Cobbett (1763–1835) English politician, agriculturist, journalist, pamphleteer
A Grammar of the English Language, Letter 2 (1818)

Safire, William -- Language Maven Strikes Again, “Drudgery It Ain’t” (1990)

Dave — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 17:30:56 +0000

The dictionaries should get with it; in pronunciation and ultimately in usage, when enough of us are wrong, we’re right.

William Safire (1929–2009) American author, columnist, journalist, speechwriter
Language Maven Strikes Again, “Drudgery It Ain’t” (1990)

Often paraphrased: "The thing about language is that, when enough of us are wrong, we're right."

Hemingway, Ernest -- Letter (15 May 1925)

Dave — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:30:16 +0000

My attitude toward punctuation is that it ought to be as conventional as possible. The game of golf would lose a good deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green. You ought to be able to show that you can do it a good deal better than anyone else with the regular tools before you have a license to bring in your own improvements.

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American writer
Letter (15 May 1925)

In C. Baker (ed.), Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters, 1917-1961 (1981).