For an author to write as he speaks is just as reprehensible as the opposite fault, to speak as he writes; for this gives a pedantic effect to what he says, and at the same time makes him hardly intelligible. - Arthur Schopenhauer (The Art of Literature Quotes)

For an author to write as he speaks is just as reprehensible as the opposite fault, to speak as he writes; for this gives a pedantic effect to what he says, and at the same time makes him hardly intelligible.[Soll jeder Schriftstil eine gewisse Spur der Verwandtschaft mit dem Lapidarstil tragen, der ja ihrer aller Ahnherr ist. Jenes ist daher so verwerflich wie das Umgekehrte, nämlich reden zu wollen, wie man schreibt; welches pedantisch und schwer verständlich zugleich herauskommt.]

Source:(Swan Sonnenschein & Co., ed. 1900), Chapter II. On Style, Page 28
Find more on