Genuine good taste consists in saying much in few words, in choosing among our thoughts, in having order and arrangement in what we say, and in speaking with composure.
Interpretation
True good taste is the ability to express thoughts clearly and succinctly while maintaining composure.
Francois Fenelon emphasizes the importance of expressing oneself thoughtfully and concisely. Genuine good taste is not just about eloquence, but about selecting the most meaningful words, organizing ideas effectively, and delivering them with calmness, which collectively enhances communication and understanding.
In practice
This quote is perfect for advising young writers on the importance of brevity.
True prayer is only another name for the love of God. Its excellence does not consist in the multitude of our words; for our Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask Him. The true prayer is that of the heart, and the heart prays only for what it desires. To pray, then is to desire -- but to desire what God would have us desire. He who asks what he does not from the bottom of his heart desire, is mistaken in thinking that he prays.
The greatest of all crosses is self. If we die in part every day, we shall have but little to do on the last. These little daily deaths will destroy the power of the final dying.
How rare it is to find a soul quiet enough to hear God speak.
If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate.
If the crowns of all the kingdoms of the empire were laid down at my feet in exchange for my books and my love of reading I would spurn them all.
You can often help others more by correcting your own faults than theirs. Remember, and you should, because of your own experience, that allowing God to correct your faults is not easy. Be patient with people, wait for God to work with them as He wills.
I began feeling the way I imagine an actor or athlete must feel when, after years of commitment to a particular dream...he realizes that he's gone just about as far as talent or fortune will take him. The dream will not happen, and he now faces the choice of accepting this fact like a grownup and moving on to more sensible pursuits, or refusing the truth and ending up bitter, quarrelsome, and slightly pathetic.
It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day.
When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before.
In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.
Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.
Experience has taught me that those who give their time to the absorbing claims of what is called society, not having leisure to keep up a large acquaintance with the organs of opinion, remain much more ignorant of the general state either of the public mind, or of the active and instructed part of it, than a recluse who reads the newspapers need be.
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