QuoteProject
I hate editors, for they make me abandon a lot of perfectly good English words.
Mark Twain
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote humorously expresses disdain for editors, suggesting they often interfere with a writer's expression.

Mark Twain's quote illustrates the comedic frustration that writers often feel towards editors, who impose corrections and adjustments that can lead to the loss of unique and perfectly constructed phrases. Through wit, Twain highlights the tension between the creative freedom of writing and the constraints brought by the editorial process, showcasing a common sentiment among authors regarding their artistic expression being altered or diminished.

Themes

EditingWritersHumorLanguageCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a writing workshop to discuss the balance between self-expression and editorial constraints.

More from Mark Twain

Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead

Similar quotes

Comedy is a very rough beat. It's no holds barred, as it should be.
Joan RiversRead
Satire is a composition of salt and mercury; and it depends upon the different mixture and preparation of those ingredients, that it comes out a noble medicine, or a rank poison.
Francis Jeffrey, Lord JeffreyRead
When in doubt, go for the dick joke.
Robin WilliamsRead
A pun is not bound by the laws which limit nicer wit. It is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect.
Charles LambRead
It is well known that humor, more than anything else in the human make-up, can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds.
Viktor E. FranklRead
If you have no tragedy, you have no comedy. Crying and laughing are the same emotion. If you laugh too hard, you cry. And vice versa.
Sid CaesarRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.