- STUPIDITY ##
STUPIDITY
We are growing serious, and, let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.
With various readings stored his empty skull,
Learn'd without sense, and venerably dull.
I find we are growing serious, and then we are in great danger of being dull.
The fool of nature stood with stupid eyes
And gaping mouth, that testified surprise.
Dryden—Cymon and Iphigenia. L. 107.
La faute en est aux dieux, qui la firent si bete.
The fault rests with' the gods, who have
made her so stupid.
Gresset—Mediant. II. 7.
Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it
must have taken him a great deal of pains to
become what we now see him. Such an excess
of stupidity, Sir, is not in Nature.
Samuel Johnson. Of Sherddan. Boswell's
Life of Johnson. (1763)
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{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>He is not only dull himself, but the cause of
dulness in others.
| author = Samuel Johnson
| work = Boswell's Life of Johnson.
(1783)
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| page = 758
}}
{{Hoyt quote
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| text = <poem>The impenetrable stupidity of Prince George
(son-in-law of James II.) served his turn. It
was his habit, when any news was told him, to
exclaim, "Est il possible?"—"Is it possible?"
Macaulay—History of England. Vol.1. Ch.
DC.
The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read,
With loads of learned lumber in his head.
| author = Pope
| work = Essay on Criticism. L. 612.
Mit der Dummheit kampfen Gotter selbst
vergebens.
Against stupidity the very gods
Themselves contend in vain.
ScHrLLER—Maid of Orleans. Act III. Sc. 6.
Schad'um die Leut'! Sind sonst wackre Briider.
Aber das denkt, wie ein Seifensieder.
A pity about the people! they are brave
enough comrades, but they have heads like
a soapboiler's.
ScHrLLER—Wallenstein's Lager. XI. 347.
Peter was dull; he was at first
Dull,—Oh, so dull—so very dull!
Whether he tallied, wrotp, or rehearsed—
Still with his dulness was he cursed—
Dull—beyond all conception—dull.
Shelley—Peter Bell the Third. Pt. VII. XL
Personally, I have a great admiration for stupidity.
| author = Oscar Wilde
| work = An Ideal Husband. Act II.
STYLE
A chaste and lucid style is indicative of the
same personal traits in the author.
Hosea Ballou—MS. Sermons.
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{{Hoyt quote
| num = 15
| text = Le style e'est l'homme.
The style is the man.
Button—Discourse on taking his seat in the
French Academie. Aug. 25, 1753. Le style
e'est l'homme m6me. CEuvres Completes.
(1778) Histoire Naturelle. (1769) Le
style est de l'homme. Discours sur Style.
Style is the dress of thoughts.
Chesterfield—Letter to his Son. On Education. Nov. 24, 1749.
And, after all, it is style alone by which posterity will judge of a great work, for an author
can have nothing truly his own but his style.
Isaac DTsraeli—Literary Miscellanies. Style.
Style! style! why, all writers will tell you that
it is the very thing which can least of all be
changed. A man's style is nearly as much a
part of him as his physiognomy, his figure, the
throbbing of his pulse,—in short, as any part of
his being is at least subjected to the action of the will.
Fenelon.
| seealso = (See also Button)
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| page = 758
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{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>The gloomy comparisons of a disturbed imagination; the melancholy madness of poetry without the inspiration.
Juntos—To Sir W. Draper. Letter No. VTII.
| seealso = (See also Prior)
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| page = 758
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{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Neat, not gaudy.
Lamb—Letter to Wordsworth. June, 1806.
Che stilo oltra l'ingegno non si stende.
For style beyond the genius never dares.
Prtrarch—Morte di Laura. Sonnet 68.
Such labour'd nothings, in so strange a style,
Amaze th' learn'd, and make the learned smile.
| author = Pope
| work = Essay on Criticism. Pt. II. L. 126.
Expression is the dress of thought, and still
Appears more decent as more suitable;
A vile conceit in pompous words express'd,
Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd.
| author = Pope
| work = Essay on Criticism. L. 318.
When Croft's "Life of Dr. Young" was spoken
qf. as a good imitation of Dr. Johnson's style,
"No, no," said he, "it is not a good imitation of
Johnson; it has all his pomp without his force;
it has all the nodosities of the oak, without its
strength; it has all the contortions of the sibyl,
without the inspiration."
Prior—Life of Burke.
| seealso = (See also Junius)
| topic =
| page = 758
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>La clarte - orne les pensées profondes.
Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.
Vauven argues—Reflexions d Maximes. 4.
