QuoteProject
How many writers are there... who, breaking up their subject into details, destroy its life, and defraud us of the whole by their anxiety about the parts.
John Henry Newman
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote warns against overanalyzing details at the expense of the overall message or life of a work.

John Henry Newman emphasizes the importance of viewing a subject in its entirety rather than getting lost in the minutiae. When writers focus too much on individual details, they risk losing the essence and vibrancy of their work, ultimately depriving readers of the full experience that the piece could offer. This calls for a balance between detail and the overall narrative or theme.

Themes

WritingDetailsWholeArtAnalysis

In practice

Example use cases

A writer at a workshop could use this quote to discuss the importance of maintaining the bigger picture in storytelling.

More from John Henry Newman

It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing.
John Henry NewmanRead
A cloud of incense was rising on high; the people suddenly all bowed low; what could it mean? The truth flashed on him, fearfully yet sweetly; it was the Blessed Sacrament - it was the Lord Incarnate who was on the altar, who had come to visit and bless his people. It was the Great Presence, which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be - holy.
John Henry NewmanRead
It is seldom we have the heart to throw ourselves, if I may so speak, on the Divine Arm; we dare not trust ourselves on the waters, though Christ bids us. We have not St. Peter's love to ask leave to come to him upon the sea. When we once are filled with that heavenly charity, we can do all things, because we attempt all things - for to attempt is to do.
John Henry NewmanRead
Now what is it moves our very hearts, and sickens us so much at cruelty shown to poor brutes? I suppose this first, that they have done no harm; next, that they have no power whatever of resistance; it is the cowardice and tyranny of which they are the victims which makes their sufferings so especially touching.
John Henry NewmanRead
A science is not mere knowledge, it is knowledge which has undergone a process of intellectual digestion. It is the grasp of many things brought together in one, and hence is its power; for, properly speaking, it is Science that is power, not Knowledge.
John Henry NewmanRead
Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.
John Henry NewmanRead

Similar quotes

The bright dawn flooded the room, and swept the fantastic shadows into dusky corners, where they lay shuddering.
Oscar WildeRead
It is a skill we learn early, the art of inventing stories to explain away the fearful scared strangeness of the world. Storytelling and make-believe, like war and agriculture, are among the arts of self-defense, and all of them are ways of enclosing otherness and claiming ownership.
William KittredgeRead
I think songwriting is the ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens in your life productive.
Taylor SwiftRead
I would like to paint the way a bird sings.
Claude MonetRead
There is no greater joy than that of feeling oneself a creator. The triumph of life is expressed by creation.
Henri BergsonRead
The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken.
Julia ChildRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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

Quote by John Henry Newman | QuoteProject