“In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary point and take details for granted: two trivialities omitted can add up to an impasse). The unpractised writer, even after the dawn of a conscience, gives him no such chance; before he can spot the point he has to tease his way through a maze of symbols of which not the tiniest suffix can be skipped.” WayGivingTwoChanceReaderConscienceArgumentAddDetailsAccidentsGreat ThingsEducatedSpotsSymbolsGrantedMathematicalDawnPresentingTeaseMomentaryMazesTrivialityImpasse Author:John Edensor Littlewood
“I want to leave my readers with a sequence of ideas/phrases that makes them question something they'd taken for granted. Or that confuses them to the point that they laugh, but contains one or two phrases/lines that stick in their minds.” WantMindTwoIdeasLinesLaughingTakenReaderSticksGrantedPhrasesSequenceTaken For Granted Author:Aaron Belz
“The reader can't take much for granted in a fiction where the scenery can eat the characters.” CharacterFictionReaderGrantedScenery Author:Ursula K. Le Guin
“Another trouble with poetry - and I'm gonna stop the list at two - is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted an interest on the reader's part in the poet's autobiographical life, in the poet's memories, problems, difficulties and even minor perceptions.” TwoProblemInterestMemoriesTroublePoetReaderPerceptionDifficultyListsGrantedMinors Author:Billy Collins
“I would like to undermine the stereotype of "strict philosophy." J.L. Austin remarked that, when philosophy is done well, it's all over by the bottom of the first page. I take him to have meant that the real work comes in setting up the problem with which you are dealing, and thus getting your reader to take particular things for granted.” FirstsWellsRealDonePhilosophyProblemParticularReaderPagesBottomSettingSettingsGrantedStrictStereotypeAustinReal Work Author:Philip Kitcher
“A trouble with poetry is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted an interest on the reader's part in the poet's autobiographical life, in the poet's memories, problems, difficulties and even minor perceptions. I try to presume that no one is interested in me. And I think experience bears that out. No one's interested in the experiences of a stranger - let's put it that way. And then you have difficulty combined with presumptuousness, which is the most dire trouble with poetry.” ThinkingWayTryingProblemInterestMemoriesTroublePoetBearsReaderPerceptionDifficultyStrangerGrantedPoetry IsMinors Author:Billy Collins