The 'pigmy body' seemed 'fretted to decay' by the 'fiery soul' within it.–J. R. Green. (The original is:—
A fiery soul which, working out its way,
Fretted the pygmy-body to decay.–Dryden.)
18. Trite Quotation
Quotation may be material or formal. With the first, the writer quotes to support himself by the authority (or to impugn the authority) of the person quoted; this does not concern us. With the second, he quotes to add some charm of striking expression or of association to his own writing. To the reader, those quotations are agreeable that neither strike him as hackneyed, nor rebuke his ignorance by their complete novelty, but rouse dormant memories. Quotation, then, should be adapted to the probable reader's cultivation. To deal in trite quotations and phrases therefore amounts to a confession that the writer either is uncultivated himself, or is addressing the uncultivated. All who would not make this confession are recommended to avoid (unless in some really new or perverted application—notum si callida verbum reddiderit junctura novum) such things as:
Chartered libertine; balm in Gilead; my prophetic soul; harmless necessary; e pur si muove; there's the rub; the curate's egg ; hinc illae lacrimae; fit audience though few; a consummation devoutly to be wished; more in sorrow than in anger; metal more attractive; heir of all the ages; curses not loud but deep; more sinned against than sinning; the irony of fate; the psychological moment; the man in the street; the sleep of the just; a work of supererogation; the pity of it; the scenes he loved so well; in her great sorrow; all that was mortal of—; few equals and no superior; leave severely alone; suffer a sea-change.
The plan partook of the nature of that of those ingenious islanders who lived entirely by taking in each other's washing.–E. F. Benson.
For he was but moderately given to 'the cups that cheer but not inebriate', and had already finished his tea.–Eliot.
Austria forbids children to smoke in public places; and in German schools and military colleges there are laws upon the subject; France, Spain, Greece, and Portugal leave the matter severely alone.–Westminster Gazette. (Severely is much worse than pointless here)
They carried compulsory subdivision and restriction of all kinds of
