“Cliche refers to words, commonplace to ideas. Cliche describes the form or the letter, commonplace the substance or spirit. To confuse them is to confuse the thought with the expression of the thought. The cliche is immediately perceivable; the commonplace very often escapes notice if decked out in original dress. There are few examples, in any literature, of new ideas expressed in original form. The most critical mind must often be content with one or the other of these pleasures, only too happy when it is not deprived of both at once, which is not too rarely the case.” IfsMindIdeasFormSpiritLiteraturePleasureCasesExampleExpressionLettersOriginalsDressesCriticalSubstanceNew IdeasDeprivedClicheCommonplaceOften Is Author:Remy de Gourmont
“Very simple ideas lie within the reach only of complex minds.” MindIdeasLyingSimpleEducationKnowledgeLearningComplexesSimplicityEducationalSimple IdeasSimple Minds Author:Remy de Gourmont
“The human mind is so complex and things are so tangled up with each other that, to explain a blade of straw, one would have to take to pieces an entire universe. A definition is a sack of flour compressed into a thimble.” MindHumansUniversePiecesPerceptionComplexesDefinitionsHuman MindBladesStrawsTangledFlour Author:Remy de Gourmont
